Footsteps in the Darkness
by SkullFox
Summary: A lonely and tortured soul is forced to come to terms with his past in order to save Lylat, and one of it's finest... So I've decided that this will be rated M for intense violence, blood&gore,severe potty mouth, and scenes of torture...
1. Introduction

"**Footsteps in the Darkness"**

-Intro-

The lamenting stars among the endless voids of space bared down on a small ship, much smaller than a standard cruiser. It's paint faded along it's triangular shape from it's pointed nose where it's deep blue flowed into a deep, dark shade of red. The lone crew member would sit in his seat on the bridge; a hollow room, the only sounds other than the random sounds of the computer systems keeping the ship in line his steady breathing. The bridge narrowly sunk from it's entrance to an incline of stairs that led to the captain's seat, centered around many translucent screens...he had the massive room minimized so that a single animal could pilot it effortlessly without the need to leave his seat, the holographic screens before him were light sensitive making them react to touch. At this current moment an extra hologram sat before him a holographic game of chess, the white characters controlled by an unseen person somewhere among the deepening reaches of space. As the white figures began to move again a faint voice sounded from the ship's PA system...

"White Knight takes Rook Pawn...Enter next move."

The captain's fingers press four corresponding buttons, "Black Queen takes White Knight...game in check."

It was a bold move...one that didn't pay off, "Stalemate...Would you like another game?"

He of course accepts. All his training showed through his games, each movement carefully thought out, his traps insidious, and his strategy ever changing. He'd never found anyone that had been able to keep pace with him either in the game or in real life...his piloting skills were of the highest caliber, and his hand-to-hand skills were second to none. Very few knew how to reach him and even fewer knew his real name. He goes from game to game and the only result is a stalemate...his opponent seems just as contempt in continuing their game as he is...but it's late and this person who's log in name is "BlueEyz"...claimed they had a job to start in the early morning. With a fond farewell to what could possibly have been his only friend, the one in the captain's seat stretched his neck before shutting down the holographic panels before him. As he looks to the digital clock mounted on his communicator he notices that it is nearly 1am. He works his way down the ship's seemingly endless halls, there was a time when he'd have seen many faces by now...but the only company he was given was that of his own hollow footsteps. The black vulpine fits into the shadows like a piece to some sort of puzzle as he seems to vanish into the shadows. An empty shell...a discarded husk of what he once was, now condemned to roam the stars in search of the only thing that made him feel anything anymore...battle.

Aryn never really fit in with anyone else...he was vulpine but, not of your average breed; his jet black fur and mid length hair showed the care he took for it with a sleek shine, his build...though not of the massive verity...was impressive by most standards, his eyes however stood out the most, it was not usual for a fox to have two differently colored eyes, one of a common brown the other a very light blue. He had no place in society, he had tried to be normal once before but, people are often cruel and judgmental...and are always willing to believe the worst before the truth. Aryn made his way to his room and after a short shower shed his clothing and slid into his bed. As he slipped slowly to sleep he was where he belonged in his own mind. His business his own...his existence no more than a set of footsteps in the darkness...

* * *

**AN: This is about my personal character...that is he is 'me'. I'm not sure when I'll begin the work on the full thing I just wanted this to be out there so that I wouldn't forget about it. **

This is SkullFox thanking everyone that's supported my work...THANK YOU ALL!!


	2. Chapter 1:Unusual Target

**Chapter 1**

(July 9th 3206ad)

(8:00am GST)

Like it was every day Aryn woke at exactly 8am, his routine in life rather predictable. He headed for the bathroom, after brushing his teeth he found himself looking at his reflection in the mirror before him. He secretly loathed that creature that stared back at him, those empty eyes, accusing and spiteful. This caused him to look to the old rusted shackles on his wrists, small segments of chain still hanging from them, constant reminders of what happened when he tried to fit in...of what he'd lost and done. He finished his routine by walking back into his small, void-like room...nothing but a one man bed and a small closet built into the wall. He didn't even bother with a shirt, he didn't see a point as he slid into a pair of black jeans. The colorless halls of the ship were just as he'd left them the night before, barren and empty. With a ship so large most of the rooms and facilities went unused, he only ever went to the kitchen, bridge, training center, or his own room. His only hopes for the present moment were that he would find a job soon, then again it was usually slim pickings this time in the year, of all the times for criminals to choose to take a break this was it. Aryn sighed as he dropped himself into his seat on the bridge...his only means of staging off boredom was gone for god only knew how long, he was used to waking in the morning to a game. He didn't have anywhere to go, as far as he was aware he was home, he didn't have a family...not one that he could remember, and his only known friend was someone he'd never even met...

As the hours passed on Aryn found slight things to keep himself busy; replacing blown relays in the ship's electrical system, a few shorts, some blown light circuits, and whatever else needed to be fixed. His fighter was always taken care of so there was nothing to fix there, he tried everything to occupy his time. After nothing came to mind he found solace in the one other thing that could take up his time...his training. Fighting had always come as a sort of natural instinct to Aryn, he was especially proficient with the weapons of what he called a more 'Civilized Age'. He took a deep sense of pleasure in knowing that he could fight in ways that most modern animals forgot or simply didn't know existed anymore. It was funny he knew all of these things...he couldn't recall ever learning them but, he certainly knew them from somewhere and made sure to practice them often. By the time he was ready to call his training quits his dark fur glistened with sweat, his breathing was only slightly labored though...and after a cold shower to cool his heated head and remove the smell of sweat from his body, he headed back to the bridge, where he was pleasantly surprised. As he rubbed the side of his head with the towel that hung round his neck he noticed the small computer panel on his seat's armrest trying to warn him of an incoming transmission. As he pressed the flashing button to accept the transmission he was met by a small screen displaying nothing but a blank screen. Aryn pressed a small switch brining up a small screen housing the image of an unknown male collie, "Ah Mister Stromwell..." The collie said.

"Aryn..." The dark vulpine quickly corrected him.

"Very well then...Aryn. I am..."

"You're third chair on the Papetoon Senate High Council Jacob Tassar." The dark vulpine cut the collie off.

"Hmm...well informed I see."

Aryn sighed, "I make it my business to know these things. Is this your reason for calling? 'Cuz if it is...get the fuck off my line."

"Actually we have a very high paying mission for a bounty hunter with such a reputation. It pays 2.5million credits but, you'll have to work with another bounty hunter already on the job."

"Alright then...Fuck you..." Aryn replied reaching for the cut off to his com system.

"Wait..." The senator called out, "Aryn we really need your help on this...a lot of people stand at risk if this guy goes free..."

Aryn rapped his fingertips on the arm of his seat several times in thought, "Fine...but, since this is going against my rules...I'm doubling my fare. Seems only fair that if this other person gets I want my fee to be at least equal to the mission original full amount."

"FIVE!!" The senator began to scream before cutting himself off, "...fine. Five million, but if that's the case you bring him back alive. You can meet your new partner in Corneria City docking station D-015 port 83. A vehicle will be waiting for you to take you to the general where you'll be briefed on the mission."

"I know the routine...Aryn out."

As the screen cut out the collie found himself sitting alone in his home office sitting at a large black, wooden desk...just before the desk stood an ominous figure who's entire body was bocked off by a black cloak...it was a shorter person who's long, wavy red hair spilled out of the hood that covered it's head. It was clearly a female as, even through the black cloth that covered her body, her breasts were still quite proponent...

"That wasn't so hard now was it senator?" An almost angelic voice asked from under the dark hood.

"You've got what you wanted he's on the job...now please leave my family alone." The collie pleaded.

"Well of course I'll leave them be...but, you on the other hand know far too much." She said walking over to his side, "You can't breath." She whispered into hi s ear.

The senator instantly placed his paws on his throat as he began gagging and choking, fighting desperately for oxygen. He clawed about at his desk and chair as he fought his way to his feet, staggering across the floor. His nose began to turn a light blue color as his tongue hung from his mouth as he tried desperately to get any kind of air into his starving lungs, but soon he collapsed to the floor as he body slowly lost the will to move. As his vision faded into the darkness of death he could hear the woman's voice as she sauntered out of the room...

"Have a nice day senator."

She chuckled to herself as she left the room, blood ran from the end of the senator's nose as his head finally fell to the floor, that last moment of horror frozen on his face forever...his body would be discovered by his son the next morning...

(July 10th)

(11:08am GST)

(Cornerian Orbit)

Aryn was in no pleasant mood, he'd been rejected for docking after some moronic female and screwed up with his ship's registration and now he was forced to wait several hours before they could attempt to patch his ship's registration into the system. He did however find that this gave him some time to access his situation with whatever type of partner he was being forced into teaming up with. The hours had been long and bothersome however and he was a bit annoyed with the whole deal with his ship's registration numbers being inputed wrong. Luckily however it took less time than he'd figured for them to patch back into his ship for his registration numbers. He was quick to bring up the com system after he received another transmission; the woman on the other end was different this time, she was a light brown furred otter with long red hair that covered her right eye...

"Registration numbers please..." She said in a polite but seemingly annoyed tone.

Aryn sighed, "570-34821-176-06..."

The otter lady went to work for a moment, "Alright...Aryn Stromwell, ship name Dragoon...1000 series Trion class Cruiser. Your station is Dock-71 port 15." She didn't bother with pleasantries she simply cut the line.

"Her I like..." Aryn said to himself, "NAV...set everything up and dock us in the registered station."

"Yes captain...ETA on surface 10.326minutes."

"Good..."

The landing was dull and hapless. It'd been almost a year since the last time he'd made port in Corneria City, Aryn preferred not to stay on solid ground for too long. The space port was surprisingly full for this time of year, there were ships of all shapes and sized stationed in the massive hanger. Several mechanics rushed over to Aryn's ship as it landed, he was quick to tell them off. The ship never really gave him any problems at all, he paid no attention to their harsh comments, as he walked out of the hanger toward the idling limo hovering above the street several inches. The driver gave him an odd look as he boarded the small vehicle; it was understandable, how many black foxes did you happen to see in Lylat, much the less one carrying something as low-tech as a sword; a simple thin bladed thing with a rounded metal fitting at both ends of the handle, the curved blade hidden by a black lacquered scabbard. Aryn didn't bother saying a word, the driver knew where to go. Aryn looked out the windows of the limo as it glided effortlessly through the air; the massive buildings towered above the ground like ominous giants of steel and glass, random animals of all breeds and types wandered the streets and large masses of vehicles sped by. It was a bit of a drive before they parked in front of a large building that was surrounded by metal fencing. After exiting the vehicle the dark furred fox made his way through the door, his weapon of choice was never hung at his side like usual rather he carried it in his left hand, often resting it on his shoulder...

Aryn found the interior of the military facility to be a bit overdone; the tiles on the floor of the mainly lobby which turned out to be a massively round room, were color coded to match out the image of the seal of Corneria. There was a large fountain in the center of the room which he found to simply be a waste of space, and there were small plants and pictures hanging on the walls..._This is no military installation, it's a fucking office building. _He thought to himself as he approached the receptionist's desk at the far end of the lobby...

"General Peppy's office..." He murmured to the green feathered avian woman behind the desk.

The avian receptionist looked up at the black fox then back to her paperwork, "You must be Mister Stromwell...The General's office in on the 56th floor, 18th door to your left. Elevators are on your right."

Aryn made his way to the small glass cages that would take him to the upper floors and pressed the buttons that corresponded with the floor he required. As he rode toward the General's floor he leaned against the wall of the small glass coffin, thinking about what he could have possibly gotten himself into...but, he needed this job, without work he had nothing to do at all. Soon enough the elevator jolted to a stop and Aryn followed the avian's instructions down the hall until he stopped at the proper door where he could hear a female voice, he didn't want to interrupt anything so he leaned against the wall...

"That's not possible Peppy...you know he'd never do anything like that!" The female's voice shouted.

"Please calm down...I'm not saying that he did this for sure. It's just that we have eye witnesses and photos and video that say he did..."

"Well don't you find it a bit odd that he'd just up and leave like that!?" She shouted.

"Just wait until the other hunter gets here and we can sort this all out..."

That seemed about like Aryn's cue to enter the room, so he knocked...

"If that the other bounty hunter then come in..." Peppy's voice called from the room.

Upon entering the room Aryn looked around, the room was a bit large but, not too much so; there was a single book shelf against the left wall, a few filing cabinets against the right wall, and a large desk in the rooms center. An old gray furred hare sat at the desk wearing a red general's uniform, with golden buttons and shoulder brushes, he wore a rather serious expression. The one sitting across from him however kept facing the general, all Aryn could make out was a pair of blue pointy ears peaking up over the top of the chair. Aryn took his seat which was seated next to the other bounty hunter. He didn't look directly at her but, Aryn did glance over out of the corner of his eye; she was a lovely young fox, a bit different as she was covered in blue fur which covered all of her spare for the white patch that covered her muzzle, she was wearing a form fitting blue uniform that looked as though the fabric was sewn to resemble small diamond shapes, it was dark blue around the middle with black covering her ribs and sides, her hair was slightly more than shoulder length, and her body was something that would drive most any male out of his right mind, her eyes were a light blue like her fur...

"You must be Aryn..." The hare said Aryn sat down, "This is Kry...ahem...Kursed. She'll be working with you on this mission."

"What's the job? I was spared the details." Aryn asked, he noticed Krystal eying him suspiciously, as if he were the enemy.

"I'm not sure if you've heard...but, three days ago Slippy Toad and Falco Lombardi were both savagely beaten and placed in medical care. Slippy suffered a shattered spine, he'll never walk again, while Falco has been in stable condition with a large number of broken bones and massive internal damage..." Peppy pointed out.

"If you already know all of that then why am I here..."

"Falco himself fingered the suspect of their attack as being none other than Fox McCloud..."

"And I told you that's bull shit...we all know Fox better than that."

"Krystal I know what you mean but this is damning evidence that he did it and his disappearance only instigates the matter further." Peppy said, "True I can hardly believe this myself but as bad as they are in my old age, I believe what my eyes tell me. Even if I truly don't want to believe it, I haven't got much of an alternative but to have him brought in. That is why the two of you are here..."

A small smile spread across Aryn's face, "You want me...and her. To hunt down and bring in...alive I might add...The Fox McCloud?"He asked.

"Yes...that is exactly what we are asking." Peppy answered, "I understand if you refuse."

"Why would I refuse the opportunity to hunt down Lylat's finest soldier? I'm in..."

The mission briefing was call off and Aryn headed out of the room and was on the elevator before a blue paw stopped the door from closing, Kursed was quick to rush in allowing the doors to close. She sat there staring at him for the longest time before he spoke up...

"A photo would last a helluva lot longer you know?" Aryn said smugly.

"So you're in this for glory huh?"

"There's no glory in the hunt...especially not when it's an innocent man."

"You think he'd innocent then? Why?" The blue vixen asked folding her arms across her chest.

"I make it my business to know these things..." Aryn said walking out of the elevator as it stopped.


	3. Chapter 2:Dark Discovery

**Chapter 2**

(July 10th)

(3:40pm)

It took at least an hour for Krystal to find and board Aryn's ship, docking her own in the larger ship's docking bay. She found the large ship to be void of almost every possible thing that was not deemed a necessity; no decorations, no color, just the same dull shiftless chrome color that seemed to fill the lonely ship's halls. The docking bay though huge and impressive was wasted on nothing more than three ships; her own small transport, and her modified arwing which she'd named the Curse, and a single flawlessly cared for black and red wolfen; the wolfen was slightly modified not seeming to be quite as large as a standard wolfen. She then made her way through the halls of Aryn's ship making herself familiar with every small corner as she passed each different hall...there was nothing in any of the halls short of dust and darkness, not even a light, the sights of the ship itself seemed incredibly depressing. The ship, at least to Krystal, turned out to be much larger than it's formal exterior seemed to let on. As she made her way through the halls her telepathy picked up on something that sent a cold, arid chill up and down her spine causing the fur on her tail to stick out on end. It wasn't thoughts of any kind. This strange feeling was being emitted by a single door she now stood before; it looked as if it were a part of the ship's living quarters...but, the palm scanner next to the door was broken and was covered in dust and dried blood. As she lay her paw on the door the feeling hit her again, this time taking her breath away...this ship, this room had seen terrible, horrible things...things that left behind feelings so strong that they still lingered there possibly many years after the events in question had unfolded.

Krystal was still shaking off the bizarre feeling she'd gotten as she walked onto the ship's bridge, the room was just as dark and ominous as the rest of the ship, spare for the space in front of the seat that Aryn was sitting in, where she could see his many display screens illuminating the small area in front of the dark furred vulpine a light green. The ship's captain paid no attention to the blue vixen now hovering over his shoulder...he was far to involved with the information that Peppy had sent him on the attack from Fox. As she watched on a small video began to play, she could see the inside of the old Star Fox base situated on the far edge of the city...the current room on the screen was the docking bay where Falco was working on the team's Landmaster. The blue avian said something to someone off screen before pulling off his red shirt and wiping off his forehead with it. He stood there talking for a bit longer and soon a portly little green toad walked into the camera's view, Krystal smiled, she hadn't seen Slippy in forever. The little mechanic said something to Falco causing the bird to lightly smack him in the back of the head knocking his lucky red cap to the ground. As Slippy ran off screen to retrieve the hat Falco turned saying something to someone that had apparently just entered the room, the bird turned to go back to work, but as soon as his back was turned a familiar reddish-brown furred fox stepped up behind him striking him in the head with a large wrench with a force that made Krystal cringe as a short spatter of fresh blood shot onto the side of the tank the bird had been repairing. The assault continued for several moments with Fox stomping on the downed avian and repeatedly striking him with the bloody wrench. Suddenly Slippy rushed in and grabbed Fox by the arm which resulted in one of Fox's near lethal kicks to be slammed into the side of the fat little toad's head sending him to the ground several feet away. Fox stomped on Falco one more time before throwing the wrench to the ground and turning his attention to Slippy who was slowly trying to crawl away from the carnage but, Fox nonchalantly walked to Slippy's side and lifted his foot into the air high over head in a clearly deadly axe kick. As Fox's heel was brought down onto the toad's spine the poor animal's body practically folded in half with a silent scream rushing from his wide opened mouth. She was glad she couldn't hear it, She could understand hitting Falco with any sort of blunt object, but Slippy? He'd never hurt anyone, Slippy was the last person she knew that would have ever deserved that sort of treatment, especially not at the paws of his best friend. Aryn glanced over his shoulder as he heard Krystal sniffle a bit wiping a tear from her eyes, but quickly glanced back to the screen as he saw the last thing on the video. Fox looked up at the camera with a sinister grin on his face as his tongue licked the blood from his muzzle that had covered him when he was assaulting the team's ace pilot, then there was nothing but static...

Krystal had noticed something about that last moment, "Those...they aren't Fox's eyes..."

Arlex grew intrigued, if anyone knew the vulpine best he figured it would be his ex-lover...as he thought on this the dark furred enigma rose from his seat stretching his back with a tired yawn, "NAV...Get up in orbit then clear a path for the Xenass Colony...if anyone knows anything about this Nex dose..." Aryn said walking to the door.

"Where are you going?" Krystal asked.

"Haven't decided..."

Krystal stood there, "Then what should I do?"

"Find a room...do whatever you want. Just stay out of my room, and stay away from my study."

"You know you're an asshole right?" Krystal half shouted after him his constant negative attitude was getting on her nerves.

"Yeah just stay outta my rooms..." Aryn replied calmly walking out of the room.

Krystal spent the next hour or so moving some important things to the new room that she'd stay in making sure it was the furthest from Aryn she could possibly get. She only moved some clothes linens and her laptop into the room, she figured that other than a few simple weapons she didn't really need anything else. She was forced to dust the room as there was a thick layer of dust everywhere; like most rooms on these ships the room she'd chosen was bare, spare for the bed which was unmade and a single wardrobe built into the wall which she found to be convenient as it was voice activated by simply telling it what piece of clothing you wanted. She dressed the small bed with her favorite red comforter as well as the blanket's matching pillows and sheets, making sure to place her blaster under the pillows and her staff under the mattress. For a short while she simply sat on the edge of her bed thinking that she wished she had a friend to talk too, but then she remembered that she always did...

Over the passing hour or two, he didn't really bother to count as he didn't care, Aryn had sorted through his thoughts about the mission then took a shower. Showers had become the only thing that ever calmed his mind anymore. Soon enough however he emerged from his bedroom with a towel draped over his shoulders still drying the side of his head...he had decided that wearing a shirt was not necessary, most men would have worn one with a female on board but, Aryn was not one to care for these things, it was his ship and he'd do as he pleased. He found his way back to the bridge and to his great delight he was welcomed by a familiar screen displayed before his seat, his only real friend was trying to contact him, and a few games of chess with Foxy1 was more than enough to make all of his stress vanish. He was fast to jump at the game he was being offered and though his hardhearted expression did not change he was happy to be connected to his friend again. The two's constant and continuing games ended in their normal fashion...stalemates, in fact he never could remember a single time that either of them had won a game, he didn't like loosing but, this was different Aryn didn't mind admitting that this person was as good as he was. The hours seemed to pass like minutes, as the time seems to go that much faster when you're having any sort of fun. Soon Aryn let out a huge yawn stretching his arms high over his head. The digital read out of the time in the bottom corner of the screen before him that showed another stalemated game read 3:45am. No wonder why he was tired...

"Well I guess I should get some sleep...long day tomorrow. Same time then?" Aryn typed.

A few seconds when by, "I should probably get some sleep too...my new partner's a real prick...but, yer on...C'ya..."

Having finished a grand total of 13 long strung out games, Aryn stretched his back and shut down his computer heading off to his room for the night...or what was left of it. As Aryn made his way down the halls he closed his eyes yawning again, and just as he opened his eyes to turn a corner he ran into Krystal who was headed from the kitchen to her room, spilling a bit of the glass of milk she had in her paws. Aryn ignored the venomous sting to her voice as he kept to his trek to his room when she muttered the word 'Bastard' in a very stern tone. Aryn didn't even bother with anything else he simply dropped himself onto his bed and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the good old days when the ship was nothing more than his own personal isolation chamber...the way it was supposed to be...

**-000-**

The next morning Krystal woke up to the unfamiliar surroundings of her new room, it would take some getting used to, then again she had no idea how long she was going to be with this guy. She was well aware that a trip from Corneria to Xenass could take up to and including 4 days...she was in for a long trip so far. It was six o'clock in the morning when she woke up, it was an average time for her since she had become a bounty hunter. Unfortunately...her night had been filled with horrible dreams from her past, about the time she had spent with Star Wolf. Her morning shower was the only thing to clear away the thoughts of it all, what had happened haunted her, it was her reason for becoming a bounty hunter in the first place, she had every intention of killing them all; Leon, Wolf, and especially Panther, many times throughout her day she simply thought of new and more painful ways she'd kill them once she got her claws into them. Finally finished with her shower Krystal wandered back into her room with her towel held around her chest allowing it to drape down to cover the rest of her body...it wasn't exactly necessary, but, this ship gave her the creeps on a level she'd never known before...it constantly felt as if someone was lurking behind her peering over her shoulder at all times. She walked over to the small wardrobe built into the room's wall telling it what she needed. At the word 'underwear' a single, small drawer slid open filled with her unmentionables. Krystal dropped her towel and slid on a pair of black panties before catching a view of herself in a nearby mirror, there were three long scars along the side of her muzzle ending on her cheek under her right eye, she was glad she couldn't see the mess of them on her back, all gifts form her former Star Wolf partners...

Soon Krystal took her mind off of the past and continued getting dressed, she fitted on a black bra, a pair of old gray sweatpants and a black sleeveless shirt that reached down just above he waist, it was an older shirt...but, what did she care? The blue vixen made her way out of that small void of space she slept in and into the larger one that was the rest of the ship. It had a bit of an ethereal aura about it, she dared to compare the feeling to being in a haunted house but, she knew that that would just be stupid...still what was this constant feeling like her own telepathy was telling her that something was seriously wrong with this ship? Was the feeling coming from Aryn? She'd picked up on people's feelings before but, she'd never actually experienced something like this before, not a feeling more like a presence, one that seemed not to exist at all, but, when she thought about it clearly it was there. It seemed to have no physical form at all though, as if it was pure emotion...absolute sadness, as if the entire ship seemed to weep for the single crew member that it housed. As Krystal headed for the kitchen of the ship she couldn't help but wonder. Why did such a large ship have only a one man crew? And better yet why was it that she picked up so much negativity on this ship without trying? Several times she'd attempted to delve into Aryn's mind since they'd met only to have herself sharply, and painfully rejected at the touch of his mind.

Krystal walked into the kitchen and began searching through the cooking area for something that she knew someone like Aryn must have kept around the place...something that she badly needed after the dreams about her past. After having no luck in her search the cerulean furred vixen slouched into a seat at one of the room's tables with a heavy sigh. As she sat there the door hissed open causing her to roll her eyes Aryn was the last person she wanted to see right now. The ship's captain walked through the door, his only attire a pair of red sweatpants and a light gray towel draped over his shoulders; though not incredibly tone, the shadowy vulpine had an impressive build, his abs were not like Fox's which could even be seen through his fur but, they were still proponent enough to be seen, his upper body on the other hand was most likely much larger than Fox, his arms were rather thick and his tone chest showed two massive scars, one trailing from his right side to his left shoulder, while the other stretched from his left hip to his right shoulder forming a large X across the center of his body. She could tell by the smell of him as he entered the room that he'd been training hard for hours. He for a moment looked at her, then to the cooking area that looked as if someone had been looking for something. Aryn didn't say a word as he disappeared into the small cooking station still drying the sweat from his body. Krystal's gaze was brought up from the table as something heavy was brought down in front of her, a dark blue bottle of familiar looking alcohol...

"I think you were looking for this..." Aryn said in a surprisingly light tone, taking a seat at the far end of the table.

Aryn didn't do much other than have a drink himself before walking toward the door, "I'm gonna need your help in the docking bay with some repairs, so don't over do it..."

"I'm not a drunk." Krystal growled.

"Whatever...just don't drink yourself stupid before you get down there."

Figuring that it would help take her mind off of things Krystal forgot about the bottle and headed with Aryn to the docking bay. There were more things to do that she thought; relays had to be replaced, wiring as well, fuel cells needed changing, several things had gone wrong with the ship's engines over the night, and there was an electrical short in the com system. It took hours to finally get everything done, and by that time Krystal was exhausted. As she made her way through the halls back toward her room she noticed one of the doors that wouldn't open before had opened as she walked by accidentally stepping too close to it. She looked around to make sure that Aryn was nowhere in sight and entered the room. It was his study, if you could call it that at all, there was a single chair situated in front of a large painting on the wall of a very familiar black vulpine holding a white vixen in his arms, Krystal was amazed to see that he was actually smiling in the picture. To the right of the chair sat a small table with another bottle of vodka and a glass, and next to the glass a small set of dog tags. Krystal picked them up and examined the names...Drayvn Dark and Emilia Jones. Krystal quickly set down the tags and rushed out of the room and into a murderous expression on Aryn's face. He stood there for a second then forcefully pushed Krystal out of the way vanishing into the room who's door closed behind him. Krystal didn't feel bad at all for what she'd done, after all rules were meant to be broken, but, something sat on her mind as she finally headed back to her room. She pulled out her laptop and began typing, soon bringing up the Lylat database, she then typed in the name Aryn Stromwell...

She was surprised with the results, "Who the hell is this?" She asked herself.

The picture that she received was a fox...but, it most definitely was not the person she was in the presence of; this person was almost solid red if not for the white that covered his muzzle. She thought for a moment then typed in another name Drayvn Dark...

"Access denied? Why deny access to someone's records?"

She then went into public records, and sure enough there was the picture of the one she was traveling with, she slowly read the specs of this person off to herself, "Drayvn Dark, height 5'9, weight 215 pounds, blood type O positive, eyes...left blue right brown..." As she read through the file she realized that this had to be Aryn's real name, "This is him...then why call himself Aryn? Something isn't right about any of this."

As Krystal delved as far as she could into the mysterious black fox's past as possible, she found that he was surrounded by red flags...missing information, lock downs, firewalls, everything she could think of seemed to stop her form finding anything out about him. By the time she'd been at if for three hours she only found one piece of incriminating information, a missing persons report on Drayvn Dark about fifteen years ago. She wanted to know the truth, there was something about this entire situation that just didn't feel right at all. The real Aryn Stromwell was reported missing at about the same time as Drayvn Dark. However there was one last thing that she found that sparked her curiosity, a single warning on the current page her laptop screen displayed...

A wanted poster with the black vulpine's face on it, for the sum of 800,000credits.

* * *

**AN: Sorry this was a little strung out and all but I'm still setting up the storyline here. The action should start pretty soon, hopefully this fic won't leave me with a horrible writer's block anytime soon. Well R&R and I'll try to get Chapter three up soon. Thanks for all the support and C'ya next time...**

SkullFox


	4. Chapter 3:The Xenass Scuffle

**Chapter 3**

(July 12th)

10:44am

Krystal woke that morning with the full intention of confronting Aryn, or Drayvn or whatever his real name was, the day before he had refused to come out of his room, but today they reached Xenass, he wouldn't have a choice at all on whether or not to come out only he knew the docking codes to his own ship. When Aryn finally walked onto the bridge he walked into a blaster being jammed in his face, Krystal didn't even see the motion that landed her against the wall with the long curved blade of a sword at her throat, her blaster sliced in two in the same motion that had pinned her. She could feel the trickle of fresh blood that ran down the side of her neck which caused her to swallow the lump in her throat, she'd never seen anyone move so fast in her life. For what seemed like forever the black vulpine simply held her to the wall debating on whether or not to kill her for interfering in his life, but after a moment she felt some of the pressure of his blade release from her skin...

"Listen closely...EVER interfere in my life again...and I'll send you back to the general in multiple shipments. Are...we...clear?" He growled.

"Who the hell are you? You're not Aryn Stromwell..."

"I'm the man with your life in his paws that's all you need to know...now. Are we clear or do I have to kill you?"

"We're clear..." Krystal growled baring her teeth at him.

Aryn dropped her to the floor where she instantly placed a paw over the cut on her neck, "Good now get the fuck outta my sight."

Krystal wasn't sure who, or what he was but, she wasn't going to tempt fate and quickly made her way back to her room where she patched up the small cut on her neck. She wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to know how sharp that sword was, but just the pressure of it touching her skin was causing it to cut her. She was still stunned at how fast he moved, she hadn't even noticed the blade at his side before it was at her throat...this Aryn person had some sort of secret that he was trying to hid and he had completely changed who he was to keep it that way she was sure of it. After a bit of time she could feel the ship docking with the Colony...she for some reason was expecting Aryn to stop by to let her know that they were there but, she was well aware of the fact that he was most likely no longer aboard the ship, he preferred to do things on his own, maybe that was why the two didn't get along so well...she was the same way, more stubborn than she cared to admit. She didn't know why she even dared to go back but she had to inspect his study again, luckily this time he was nowhere in sight, but, the door had been locked and there was a password set for entrance. She tried other rooms of his but they'd all been set up the same way, all but the least important rooms on the entire ship, after a short time she decided that there was only one thing left to do...

She went back to her room and opened a subspace link to Peppy's office, "Hello Krystal...hopefully you have some sort of good news on your hunt." The old hare said as the link was opened.

"Not quite...you know something about this Aryn guy that you aren't telling me don't you?"

Peppy looked a bit surprised, "Don't fucking hide anything from me Peppy! He looked like he knew something about that attack on Falco and Slippy that he wasn't telling. I think you know something to...so spit it out."

Peppy sighed, "Krystal I'm afraid I have no idea what your talking about...Aryn is a well known bounty hunter, he always seems to be a bit over informed but that's just the way he is. As for the attack there's a good chance that he's already picked up some kind of a lead, he's never stayed on one case for more that five days he had an impressive track record and from what I hear he's a specialist with blades...that is all the information I have."

"Then I need either you or Slippy one to get some information for me...I want to know everything you can tell me about someone named Drayvn Dark."

"Aren't you being a bit obsessive here Krystal?" Peppy asked.

"Have I ever been wrong on this sort of thing before...? My gut doesn't lie and it's telling me that there is something seriously off about this guy you've got me working with."

"Alright Krystal I get your point...I'll look into it, just calm down and try not to piss him off too much, he did kill his last partner. Well actually he stranded him on a deserted planet but still...he isn't the kind of person to fuck with."

"Yeah I caught that..." Krystal replied rubbing her neck, "Anyhow see what you can come up with and call me back. I gotta go find this Nex guy's place..."

Krystal pulled her staff which she'd some time ago modified into a spear after swearing never to use magic again for reasons that she didn't care to think of anymore, her past after the Star Fox team had become less than a happy life. She'd done things she was not proud of and was forced to do things that she would never have even considered in her wildest dreams. She blamed a small portion of it on Fox but, deep down she was well aware of who's fault it was, she was told more than once to stay away from Wolf and his gang but, her pride got in her way again...and cost her dearly. She had transformed her staff into a spear for the soul purpose that she had become a bounty hunter...to kill Wolf and his team for what they'd done. Krystal made sure she was wearing her favorite vest, a dark red sleeveless flight jacket over her black tee shirt, the spear she carried was strapped to the opposite thigh of her blaster in a similar holster, she had made it a habit of carrying several different weapons on her at all times, and was well aware of how to use each and every one of them with deadly precision...her new name Kursed was given to her by the bounties she hunted as they claimed anyone who was marked as her target was cursed to either be captured or killed by at her paws. It was a flattering statement the first time she'd heard it but, after so long it simply reminded her that she'd become little less than a common killer. It wasn't long before she found her way out into the open yet seemingly toxic air of the Xenass Colony, the place was worse off than most places in any situation. The buildings where trashed, calling the state of the small town before her poor would have been a terrible and gross understatement, the air was filled with a thick layer of smog from the ritzier places on the surface of the place where living was a luxury., the smell could be compared to rotting garbage that had been sitting in a stagnant pool of waste for several months, and the small half standing buildings looked as tough most of the wood and metal structures could collapses at a moment's whim. As she walked into the small laughably under cared for city, she noticed that the streets were mostly bare of anything other than the random refuse or body of some drunken animal trying to drown away whatever problems this place had forced upon him...the place had a way of making someone feel alone...

**-000-**

Aryn nearly choked as he walked into the small bar, an all too familiar smell wafted through the air; a putrid fragrance that came from years of drunken morons wasting themselves away for no good reason. The smell reminded him of the not so often times he had to empty the sewage tanks on his ship, it was revolting, just the thought of these people sitting here in this smell disgusted him. There was not much action for the bar apparently, not usually before 6 o'clock, that was when the real whack jobs came out in the Xenass colony; here was a place that Aryn was sad to say he'd seen 'em of all calibers; rapists, psychos, high end believers, hookers, murderers, you name it you could find it at the Xenass Colony, here in the slums, if you were lucky enough to not be mugged, you could find just about any drug or illegal activity possible for the right price. The tiny bar that stood before Aryn had it's own shady side, but, at least it's owner had his good side about what he did there. Some of the slum's local whores were roughed up by some gang of assholes, Nex put a stop to that by allowing the girls to stay in his bar and use the upstairs like their own personal brothel...in any case it was better than the streets...Aryn saw it more as Nex being some sort of glorified pimp rather than a bartender, then again maybe he was wrong...for as long as he'd known Nex the lizard had never once asked the girls for any money, in fact several of the girls had gone strait since working there and began being waitresses instead. The bar only consisted of about ten small four man tables, two could hold up to 8, both had full poker games going, there was a thick layer of cigar smoke that clung to the air, Aryn took a seat and was soon greeted by a familiar face. A young pink furred bunny...

"Hey Aryn...you haven't been by in a while. You need to see Nex?" She asked setting a small glass in front of him.

Aryn looked at the glass...

"I saw you come in...figured you might want a drink while you waited for Nex to finish in back. It's your usual..."

Aryn chuckled to himself. She was always such a nice kid, he was actually happy she wasn't involved in the same acts as the other girls, "Thank you Roxy...say you haven't seen this guy in here have you?" He asked handing the bunny a small digital imager.

The device looked like a small L shaped piece of plastic but as Roxy pressed a small button a holographic image appeared below it like a small photo instantly coming out of the device, it showed a profile of Fox McCloud...

"I never forget a face...he was in here two days ago." She replied handing him the imager, "Ordered a bottle of scotch and roughed a few of our customers up pretty bad. Some of the "peacekeepers"..." She said making air quotes at the word peacekeepers, "...tried to stop him when he headed for the docks but, they didn't handle him any better than our customers did."

"Alright then...you should probably get back to work then."

"No problem...see ya around Aryn."

Aryn sat by for a bit longer quietly sipping the drink that Roxy had brought him until he noticed a familiar figure approaching him; he was a bit tall for his kind, dressed in a pair of old blue jeans and a white tee shirt covered by a white bartender's apron, his body covered in a thing layer of light emerald colored scales, his arms and chest were thick with muscle despite being rather thin to boot, his build paled in comparison to Aryn's, as he sat down bringing his face form the cloud of smoke that layered the upper portion of the room's atmosphere, the iguana had a short, squared snout, his eyes a clear refection of the color of his scales, the frills that ran along the top of his head hung to one side like some sort of punker hairstyle, a toothpick hung from the corner of his mouth...

"I take it yer in here for the one that kicked those two wolf's asses a few days ago?" Nex asked.

"You got anything?"

Nex slid a small brown folder across the table, "Look I left the group because I wanted people to forget about me alright? You need to find a new info man."

"Would you have said that to him too..."

"That's not the point Eric and Emilia are both dead...when the fuck are you just gonna accept that?" Nex started to raise his voice.

Aryn practically jumped from his seat pulling the reptile to his eye level. "Not one day sooner than the day I get my paws around Mashif's neck."

After a few moments a paw fell onto Aryn's shoulder, "Hey..._hic_...asshole. You're that fuck that put my brother in prison." The black cat behind him said in a drunken stupor.

"You got 5 seconds to move that paw before I take it off pal."

Aryn gave the cat much more that 5 seconds, but, the cat persisted and pulled on Aryn's shoulder in an obvious attempt to make the fox face him, but, before anyone watching could notice the motion Aryn was facing the door again sliding his sword back into it's sheath leaving the cat screaming in pain as his severed paw landed on the table next to the green scaled bartender. Aryn didn't even bother apologizing to Nex, it wasn't in his nature to apologize for anything, besides he'd given the feline a fair warning. He had what he'd come for Nex had been gathering all the information that he could find on the rouge hero for the days that Aryn's ship had been on it's way to the Colony, and there was nobody better at gathering information than Nex. Aryn wiped a spot of blood form his face and headed back toward his ship, a bit curious as to why Krystal had never showed up at the bar, then again maybe she never left the ship after the way Aryn had been, but, she'd stuck her nose where it didn't belong. It was as Aryn walked by an alley that something familiar looking caught his eye, it was a long golden colored staff with a long chrome blade protruding from a small round headpiece which housed a red stone. He picked up the spear and examined it closely, he'd seen Krystal bring something of the like on board his ship, with a slight sigh Aryn began to walk into the darkened alleyway with the spear in one paw and his own sword in the other; the alley had a foul smell like the rest of the slums, stagnant dumpsters filled with god only knows what lined the walls of the nearby buildings, an overhead light flickered off and on rapidly, from low power or perhaps the bulb itself was going out he couldn't tell. The darkness of the alley seemed like home to Aryn, it reminded him of his ship's halls, simply with a bit of a different smell about it. As he furthered himself into the alley the entrance he'd come through vanished from sight leaving only the darkness to embrace him. There was a familiar smell that he'd picked up besides the rotting trash and as he filtered through the different horrid smells that wafted through the air the smell of blueberries hit him, he knew the scent from his ship from any time Krystal was nearby. The rather pleasant smell led him to a single metal door with a sliding view slot at about eye level. He gently rapped the scabbard of his sword against the metal producing a low hollow echo...after a few moments the slot opened reveling a pair of brown eyes...

"The hell do you want?!" The animal demanded.

Aryn held up the spear, "Just returning lost goods."

The animal froze at the sight of the spear but could do nothing as the blade pierced his forehead, Aryn released his end of the weapon allowing the body to fall to the floor pulling the shaft through the small viewing window. Aryn attempted to pull the door open only to realized he never got the guard to open it, but with a quick motion of his blade the door fell from it's hinges dashed into four large pieces, the racked that it all caused was sure to make things here interesting. As he sheathed his sword Aryn freed the spear from the poor raccoon's forehead causing a small spurt of blood to shoot out as it gushed a mixture of gray and red matter. It was easy enough finding his way through the building, it felt like some sort of fucked up night club, he could hear a scream from a short ways away and simply followed the echo of whoever's voice it was. As he made his way through the building's halls an unknown brown furred Manx rushed him with a large knife, but without so much as breaking his stride Aryn spun to one side planting his boot into the side of the cat's face driving the side of his head into the nearby wall resulting in a large spurt of red that splattered from the side of the animal's face to cover the wall. Aryn shook his head in shame as he walked on, gang member, or whoever these people were knew nothing about fighting properly, they rush in blindly not even trying to calculate any aggressive reaction that their target might have which was what had just led to the Manx's rather painful death. The animals seemed to come at him in small numbers, most of them being dealt with by his feet and the spear that he carried, but, at some point they stopped coming altogether. At the very end of the hall Aryn walked through a small door that led into a very large room, it was most likely used as storage for some sort of company at one point, there were small stacks of boxes everywhere, but there were also ruined sofas and what seemed like burning barrels about the room, the walls were covered in graffiti. Sure enough however there was one person, a dark red feathered avian sitting in an old recliner, a blue furred vixen stood against a nearby squared pillar, most of her uniform was ripped and torn, and she was bleeding from her nose as well as several other places about her face...

"I don't know what you're here for friend...but this is private property and you're trespass'n." The avian said causing a large group of animal to surround Aryn in a circle.

Aryn looked over both shoulders then back to the gang's leader, "Ten on one...doesn't seem fair." Aryn said with a grin dropping the spear and his sword, "Tell you all what, I'll do this with my paws." He said laying his paws at his sides.

Two of the animals, a fox and wolf rushed in on Aryn from two sides, in a similar motion from before his foot dragged the wolf to the ground by the side of his head, and as the fox made his way close enough a single punch from Aryn shattered the animal's windpipe instantly dragging him to the ground where the fox struggled to breath for a few moments before collapsing to the ground from the suffocation, Aryn locked his heels on either side of the half conscious wolf's neck and twisted his hips resulting in a loud snap that sounded through the room. Aryn couldn't help but to smile as he made eye contact with the red bird again...his only love in life was fighting, and it had been far to long since the last time he'd gotten to do so. Another rushed in at him trowing what could have been a powerful punch, but Aryn quickly side stepped him leaping into the air and driving a solid kick to the back of the animal's neck, he'd never walk again. Two more rushed in from either side this time, the first within striking distance was a black leopard Aryn stepped to one side driving a powerful kick into the feline's shins which sent him into a dangerous flip through the air landing him on the back of his head, from this position Aryn spun about sweeping another's feet out from under him and driving a bone shattering punch into the airborne animal's chest sending him several feet across the room. The next two seemed to reach him all at once, but the numbers didn't help, he managed to catch them both under by the wrists spinning them both counterclockwise locking their heads under his arms and with a sharp upward tug snapped both of their necks with little effort. As he released the two lifeless bodies he now noticed the tree that were left were all brandishing weapons of a crude nature, an echidna spun a thick chain about the air, an otter seemed to have found some sort of pipe, and the supposedly smartest one seemed to be the hare that had at one point picked up Krystal's spear. The echidna rushed in ready to swipe the thick chain in his paws at Aryn's face but and unseen black object struck him in the gut forcing him to stop in place, and seemingly from nowhere Aryn appeared beside him, the blade of his sword piercing the animals neck, to any watching the move would have been completely overlooked, Aryn had propped his sheathed sword onto the toe of his boot and with a swift motion used his other foot to throw the scabbard freely into the animal's stomach stunning him for the split second it took for Aryn to attack. Aryn quickly pulled his sword free of the animal who surprisingly staggered about a bit making a horrible sound as his screams were choked out by his own blood flooding his vocal cords, as he staggered about the hare holding Krystal's spear rushed in at Aryn hoping his attention to their dying friend would be enough to get in a killing shot, the hare thrust the spear forward at Aryn's back but, the black fox strafed the blow and swung his blade at the rabbit's head which was to his surprised ducked and in his instant of shock Aryn could feel the tip of the spear slide across his chest leaving a trail of blood as it tore his shirt open, the poor rabbit tried again to stab the fox but, this time Aryn took the weapon by the shaft and pulled the hare forward his next slash sending the animal's severed head through the air as his body finished a last step before falling to the ground in a pool of it's own blood...the otter that had seen all of this suddenly froze as Aryn's gaze finally met him, the otter dropped his pipe and ran for the door but the flying blade of a thrown sword pierced the back of his skull pinning him to the very door he intended to use to escape the carnage. Aryn's attention now went back to the avian leader of this small group...

"That was uniquely impressive..." The bird said holding a small knife to Krystal's throat, "...but, this is my den. Anything and anyone that comes here belongs to me."

Aryn chuckled a bit, "Really now...I'm thinking maybe mommy and daddy didn't give someone enough attention." He said in a mocking tone.

"You really want this bitch dead that bad?!" The bird yelled.

"What makes you think I'm here for her? I was just looking for a fight."

The avian pulled the knife away from Krystal's throat for a moment, and pointed it at Aryn, but as soon as he attempted to say something a blue foot struck him in the side of the face causing him to fall forward, he'd not even noticed that Krystal had even come to, before the avian could get up somehow Krystal managed to force the ropes off that held her wrists above her head. There was a moment that the avian looked to her but, the vixen's foot landed against his jaw cracking his beak causing him to scream in pain, the bird rolled over onto his side but the angered vixen kicked him in the ribs rolling him onto his back after pulling him a short ways into the air, Aryn was actually enjoying watching this happen, he'd never known Krystal had this kind of an aggressive side to her, it really did surprise him, plus her kicks seemed to really hurt the avian pretty badly. She kicked the bird in the ribs and gut several more times until he tried to crawl away exposing parts of his anatomy that he really shouldn't have. As soon as his crotch was open Krystal took a running start swinging her foot into the animals manhood with enough force to lift him end over end landing him on his back. Aryn nearly laughed, every female he'd ever seen fight a male had always gone there for some reason. Krystal held an arm across her ribs, apparently whatever beating had taken place to put her in her current state had done some damage to her ribs, which was now becoming obvious now that her adrenalin was wearing off. She managed to walk over to Aryn's side and retrieve her spear without saying a word, she collapsed her weapon and placed it back where it belonged in it's holster...she still said nothing as she limped to the door where the otter was still pinned by Aryn's sword and just as if the incident had never happened limped out of the room. Aryn retrieved his sword from the otter's skull and cleaned the blade of the thick mess of blood that covered it before putting it back in it's scabbard. Aryn left the room, not many survived but those that did would hopefully learn a lesson...Aryn could care less whether they did or didn't he had what he needed from this place, and was happy that it was time to leave...

* * *

**AN: Well that's another chapter off of that...and with the size of Chains of Fate, god only knows how long I'll pan this one out for...HEHEHE, who knows how many chapters it could be, I sure as hell don't I write most of this stuff on a whim so...meh. Anyhow R&R and I'll try to post the next one soon. Thanx for all the support everyone...**

PS: This story has nothing to do with any other fics I have written in the past...any characters from other fics are only here because I like to use my OCs more than a lot.

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox


	5. Chapter 4:Mistakes

**Chapter 4**

(July 12th)

(12:09 GST)

Krystal seemed to limp around the ship all day, she refused to see a doctor about any of her injuries but, Aryn could tell that she was in pain...she seemed to wince ever time she sat down and her steps were taken with caution, he could only tell that she had either cracked or broken ribs. Whatever the situation her constant act of being tougher than she was was beginning to get on Aryn's nerves in a major way, he saw no point in refusing help where it was needed, and right now it was something she needed badly. As Krystal sat down in the ship's kitchen to eat she winced painfully from a jolt that shot through her right side; she thought back to the incident, she had no idea where the bar was she was headed to, how was she supposed to know that the directions she was given were that bad? It was Aryn's fault in the first place, he should have told her where the bar was before ever leaving the ship, she was jumped as soon as she'd gotten anywhere near that alley, she wouldn't have been surprised if the one that gave her directions wasn't a member of the gang to begin with. They did seem to go for her weapons rather fast for common thugs, making clear to strip her of her spear and make damned sure that it was nowhere near her when she was in their hideout. Chances were some of them had a bone to pick with her, she was a well known bounty hunter and had quite a few enemies. As she sat there refusing to eat what she'd made for herself because of the pain caused by her every motion Aryn walked into the room with a small metal case with him and placed it on the table where she was siting...she instantly began to panic when she saw the syringe he removed from the case and jolted to get up...

"SIT DOWN!!" Aryn demanded, "Being strong is one thing but, putting yourself through unnecessary pain is another." He said filling the hypodermic with a clear liquid, "You're no good to me in this condition, and I'm a little tired of watching you wince every time you fuck'n move so just hold still."

Aryn noticed Krystal's paws shaking as he grasped her arm, she had a clear fear of needles that he was not aware of, "It dose help if you look the other way."

Taking his word for it Krystal turned her head the other way, she found that not looking did take her mind off of the small spear, but did not help when she felt the strange liquid rush into her body, it burned and itched but every time she attempted to scratch the injection Aryn slapped her paw away. After a few minutes she no longer felt any pain but, her eyes were getting heavy and a bit scratchy, she began to feel bizarrely tired and soon fell forward onto the table before her. Aryn placed his things back into the medi-kit and picked the blue vixen up off of the table carrying her to her room where he lay her on her bed...

"Hopefully a few hours of sleep'll do you some shred of good. At least it'll keep you from annoying me any further."

**-000-**

Aryn took a shower and had a bite to eat before he headed to the bridge, he figured that he could go over Nex's report first thing in the morning, at the moment however it was past 1 o'clock and that meant he had a chess game to play. However, no matter how long he sat by his computer his friend never came online, it had happened before however, sometimes in this hectic life of bounty hunting you loose track of things. He was certain that he'd see his friend the next day, maybe even early in the morning after his daily work out. After this disappointing turn of events there was nothing else left for him to do, he simply headed to his room and found his way to sleep...and after his day that was none to hard to accomplish. The next morning proved a bit less that eventful as well, that is until Krystal finally woke up. Her paw instantly shot to her head as she began to roll out of bed, the whole room was spinning which took her mind off of the searing pain in her side, the headache went on even as the warm water from her shower soothed away most of the pain she felt. It was a bizarre feeling that she had, like standing up too fast after sitting for too long but, constant...her stomach also felt a bit nauseated. After getting dressed for the day she headed out toward the kitchen with her laptop as she remembered that she was supposed to do something important, When she arrived in the kitchen Aryn was there, shirtless as he often was at the present early hour, most likely fresh out of the training room. It was as Krystal sat down that Aryn slid a plate of hot food under her nose...

"I'll help with the nausea..."

"What the hell did you give me last night?" Krystal groaned.

"Daxothrill...really powerful sedative. It's the reason for the headache too." Aryn replied.

"I didn't ask for your help..." Krystal growled.

"Yeah and you're never going to...but like it or not you're a member of a crew...and I have a strict policy of not letting crew members die on me." Aryn said walking toward the door, "Regardless of how much of a idiot they are."

"Hey! FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!!" Krystal shouted.

"YOU'RE NOT MY TYPE!!" Aryn's voice echoed back in reply from his position a short ways down the hall.

Krystal winced in pain, as she threw the plate in front of her across the room splattering it's contents across the far wall of the room. Aryn slowly made his way toward his room where he retrieved a black tank top that matched his fur so well that in was almost unnoticeable against his body, his only place to be other than his room seemed to be the bridge where he sat down going over the report; ship numbers, recent transactions, crimes recently committed, not much compared to what Nex was capable of pulling up on someone. However it was enough to get what he wanted, he reached over to the panel on the arm of his seat and punched in a short stream of numbers...

"NAV...run this ship ID through the CHSA's archives and see where it was last headed."

"Full scan of the archives requested will take 3.458 hours..." The ship's computer replied.

"Just do it..." Aryn snapped in a annoyed tone.

It was as Aryn sat there that to his clear happiness a message appeared stating that his friend was online, there were hardly ever any words between the two at first, they simply sat there playing their games. As usual the games ended as stalemates one after another always seeming to end in the same manner as the game before it. The hours seemed to pass without notice for Aryn, he was simply happy that every time he was playing, Krystal seemed to be nowhere to bother him, he did feel a small tinge of responsibility for what had happened to her...but for the most part it was her fault for actually trusting someone other than herself...

"So...missed you last night." Aryn typed as the computer set up another game.

"Sorry...turned in early...didn't really have much of a choice, got messed up pretty bad the other day."

"Sorry to hear it...member of my crew got hurt the other day...nothing too serious though." Aryn replied.

"So you think either of us are going to win a game anytime soon?" Foxy1 asked

"Great minds think alike I suppose..."

With that said another game started, for a short while during the match Aryn was ahead but, as soon as he felt he would win the game ended in it's natural manner causing him to sigh and shake his head with a feint smile. The games went on for more hours until Aryn finally looked over at the clock, a digital readout displayed the time as 3:25pm, he really had work to do on the ship but really didn't want to leave his game, unfortunately he was forced to finally call off the games...

"Sorry got work to do...I'll be free at about 10 or 11 if you feel like playing some more."

"No...but thanks...I'm cutting in early tonight, ribs are killing me."

"Yeah but you'll feel better in no time..." Aryn typed.

"And how would you know that?" His friend typed.

"I make it my business to know these things..."

Aryn simply cut off his connection after that last line, he always had to have the last word in nearly every situation. He was content now however having had his fun, and headed off into the ship to check for anything that might have gone wrong over the course of the passing days. Krystal on the other hand sat in the kitchen with her open jawed expression glued to the screen of her laptop...a small chess game had ended in a stalemate, but her wide open eyes were fixed on the last thing the other player had typed, '_I make it my business to know these things...'_, she was positively flabbergasted. How could someone so nice during their games be such a dick in person? Did he even know that she was Foxy1? She doubted it. For the longest time Krystal sat there filtering through the facts, what were the odds that the person she'd been playing these games with over the past year would be the one person that she would be forced to partner with? For a moment she thought about telling him...but then again why should she? He'd been nothing but a complete asshole to her since they'd met, maybe he'd act differently if he knew the truth, would he even play anymore? She really didn't want to stop playing whether he was an ass or not. It took her some time of consideration but, decided it best not to tell Aryn the truth, she enjoyed their games, and maybe she'd be able to get some information as Foxy1 that Krystal just couldn't get to.

Aryn found himself in the docking bay after a short while, seems the biggest problem with space travel was the amount of stress the electrical systems went through, there was hardly a week that went by that he couldn't remember there being a blown relay here or there, or one of those rare electrical shorts that often baffled the mind. His tank top hung from the end of his wolfen's wing where it wouldn't get dirty or sweaty, he didn't really like changing more than once a day. As he stayed below the many panels of the floor in the area referred to as 'The Hole', Aryn could hear the light echo of footsteps through the area, As he peeked his head out of the missing panel in the floor he shook his head roughly spraying sweat from his fur as it was always rather hot in the hole. He looked around but there was no one thee, then his nose twitched against the stale air, there was a hint of a familiar smell that lingered in the vicinity, but, before it could completely catch his attention a rather sharp blade forced his muzzle to raise a bit, it was the familiar blade of a spear that held him by the neck...

"You're surprisingly stealthy when you wanna be..."

"You hang around a crew like Star Fox and see if you don't pick up a few things." Krystal replied mockingly as she pulled the blade away from his neck, "Listen, I never really thanked you...you know...for helping me."

"Forget it..." Aryn said disappearing back beneath the floor.

"Why did you help me in the first place? We don't exactly get along." The blue vixen asked.

"Whether or not we get along is besides the point...my crew always comes first, and as much as I hate having one, you being here makes you part of a crew..."

"You know you sound just like Fox?" Krystal chuckled, "He had the same philosophy, said the crew was like family."

There was a loud rattling sound below, "Fuck'n wrench." Aryn half growled, "I'll admit that I only met Fox once, and even that time we only talked for about three minutes but, he was one of the few people that I didn't hate at fist sight..."

"Why do you hate everyone so much Aryn?"

Even below the floor she could hear him sigh, "I have my reasons..." He said finally pulling himself out of the hole and replacing the panel in the floor, "You wouldn't understand and lets leave it at that."

"Can I just ask one more question since you seem to be in a listening mood?" Krystal asked,

Aryn simply turned and waited for her question, "Why are you always wearing those?" She asked pointing to the old shackles on his wrists.

"That's the part you wouldn't understand..." He answered walking out of the room.

She was glad she caught him in a listening mood, it at the least gave her the chance to learn something; someone, somewhere along the lines of his life had done something that had completely shaken his faith in all people, he stayed in space on his ship because that was the one place they could no longer hurt him...at least that was how it seemed to Krystal. She wondered if that odd feeling she always got on the ship was from him, or from the events that caused him to feel the way he did...but, his faith couldn't be shaken in all people, after all he kept coming back to play more chess, maybe that was just what was left of his civilized mind trying desperately to cling to what ounce of friendship he could get. Whatever his reason the fact that he called Foxy1 his friend told her that he wanted to trust people again, that he wanted a reason to, but, then again this could have all been some sort of fantastical scenario that she'd placed inside her own head. Krystal had never met anyone like Aryn, he seemed to hate everything but, at the same time he cared and tried desperately to hide it...whether this was to keep from being hurt or simply because it was in his nature, she didn't know but, she knew what it was like not to trust anyone...to be ridiculed for your actions just because the masses couldn't see things from her point of view. After leaving the Star Fox team all sorts of rumors began to spread about...her favorite being that she was only there to get close to Fox so she could kill him in his sleep, the fans were quick to stand up for their hero, last she'd heard or seen of him Fox had admitted several new members to the team and given leadership to Falco...other than that she had no clue what he'd been up to.. For the longest time she thought she still had feelings for Fox but, over the years they dwindled away, leaving him in the back of her mind, but, regardless of how his fans may have treated her for leaving him Fox was her friend and he did save her life on Sauria, she owed him as much as clearing his name for him. She knew him far too well that to believe he'd ever raise a paw toward Slippy in anger or otherwise, Falco was another question him and Fox got into fights all the time and sometimes even beat the hell out of each other but, Fox had never even raised his voice toward Slippy, she still couldn't believe that he would do such a thing and only imagined what would have happened if she were still there, she was an accomplished fighter herself but, she wasn't so proud that she couldn't admit that Fox was better by far. What if it was him? Would he have shown any mercy on her? Or would the details of their past have caused him to go further than with the other two?

**(on the bridge)**

Aryn practically threw himself into his seat, "NAV...give me the details on that scan of the CHSA's archives."

"Ship registered to one Jacob Henssen of Papetoon...registration number 351-15486-400-09. Last hyperspace path ended near the edge of the Lylat and Dan'jas systems, last known docking Dan'jas system Planet Zarr...approximately 2.356 hours ago."

"Set a course for Zarr then and keep that number on the scanners if a ship matching those numbers hits the scan track it and pull us out of hyperspace."

For a time Aryn couldn't think of anything else to do other than to hope that his friend would soon come online for another game but, it was only past 4 o'clock, and he had told his friend to come back at 10 or 11...then again Foxy also mentioned checking in early and getting some sleep. That left him with absolutely nothing else to do, and there was nothing that Aryn hated any more than being bored. As he sat there in his captain's seat staring into the open abyss of space his mind wandered off toward the questions Krystal had asked him. When did he start hating so much? As he asked himself this he could hear the beginning of everything that started it...

**-Flashback-**

_(21years ago)_

_A familiar looking older hound stood at the front of the room, his face seeming to be the only part of him showing his natural brown fur as he was dressed in a bright red military uniform decorated with small ornamental ribbons showing the many deeds he'd done over his years as a normal soldier before becoming a general..._

"_Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to Black Star...the last unit you will ever be in." Pepper said walking about with his paws behind his back, "You've all been selected not because of your performance on the field though that would be reason enough for most of you...rather you are here with the opportunity to become the greatest soldiers the galaxy has ever seen..." Pepper said stopping near a white vixen sitting in a chair, "To start things off lets get better introduced; this is intelligence officer Emilia Jones..." This time he moved on to a black feathered avian, "This is infantry airman Raven Thorn, one of the best pilots since James McCloud himself..." The hound moved on to a red furred vixen with long red hair, "This is Rose Grants expert sniper..." He moved to the next who seemed to be a dark gray wolf of a rather scrawny build, "This is Mashif Borrell demolitions expert..." He moved on to a much younger black fox, "And last but not least this is Drayvn Dark, stealth, tactical, and infiltration."_

_The white vixen Emilia raised her paw, "Pardon me General but, why exactly are we here?"_

"_I am afraid I can only answer that after you all sign the requisition forms for this particular team. I apologize for the secrecy but this small team will be based on some research that is deemed highly classified."_

_Soon the general went over the pages finding them to be filled out accordingly, "Now...a short time ago there was a discovery made by James McCloud. A planet called...Cerinia. The main study of this facility is of what you would call Parapsychic Phenomena..."_

**-End Flashback-**

Aryn woke with a start as the ship jolted forward leaping from normal space to hyperspace, his breathing was a bit labored and his body felt unusually warm. He didn't recall falling asleep, and that was the last thing he wanted to remember right now. Aryn sighed as he wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and he quickly left the room heading for his own, hoping that this time his sleep would be peaceful, instead of being filled with mistakes...

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**AN: I apologize for my recent lack in getting in chapters for most of my stories but, some things just can't be helped. Well this marks Chapter 4 and opens some answers as well as new questions...but, then again it's still only the beginning of the story so there'll be more questions before answers for a short time. Anyhow R&R and let me know how this one's going. Thanx for the loads of support to all the fans of my work and C'ya all next time...**

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox


	6. Chapter 5:The Pain of Memory

Dedicatated to this chapter is the song

Cry for you- Simple Plan

'Because sometimes our tears are all we have...'

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**Chapter 5**

(July 13th)

(9:33am GST)

The memories of his past kept Aryn from getting any sleep at all, his only reprieve from the constant memories was his training...by the time the memories had left his mind he was sore and spent, he'd done an equivalent of six days work out. Krystal was surprised that morning to walk into the kitchen only to see an extremely exhausted looking black fox, sipping down what she could only guess was a cup of coffee, odd, she only ever saw him drinking some strange bottled drink he kept, with a lizard on the label. He looked like he'd had one hell of a rough night, he started to say something only to be cut off...

"I know...I know. Mind my own business..." Krystal said walking by then back with a small snack, "I wasn't here to talk with your hate filled ass anyhow."

Krystal hadn't wanted to even get up yet, their current course would take several days, and her current attire proved so, she wore nothing more than a pair of sweatpants as she most often slept only in her underwear, and a small tank top...she had only wandered into the kitchen for the snack that she had with her now, along with a small glass of water that she'd gotten earlier. She had no idea that Aryn would even be in the kitchen, especially not looking like the walking dead...she couldn't help but wonder what had given him such trouble last night, then again she had better things to do right now. As she sat down on her bed Krystal punched in a com number on her laptop, soon enough she was greeted by Peppy's face...

"Did you get that information?" She asked.

"For the love of god Krystal put something on."

"I'm not changing until I feel like getting out of bed." Krystal retorted, "Now do you have that information or not?"

"I looked as hard as I could Krystal but according to our files Aryn is just who he says he is."

Krystal looked back up the profile she'd seen before, "But that's impossible...this isn't the same picture."

As Krystal looked to the profile the entirety of it had been changed, it fully matched the Aryn she was working with now...

"This is wrong Peppy I know what I saw...This isn't even the same picture that was on the profile when I looked it up."

"Well unless he somehow hacked the Hall of Lylatian Records and changed the profile himself I don't really see how that's possible." Peppy replied.

"Whatever." Krystal growled in anger, "I know that there's something fishy about this guy and I'm gonna find out what it is. I still have a copy of that wanted poster..."

Krystal had become slightly obsessed with finding the truth which had become a problem since becoming a bounty hunter for her,..then again she always tried to know everything she could about the people she worked with. The carried on, she didn't even leave her room until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, hardly dressed any different than before, simply wearing a normal white tee shirt but the same sweats. She thought she'd do a bit of inspecting but as she made her way through the halls one of the doors suddenly opened and Aryn stumbled out breathing heavily, he looked to be in immense pain, he didn't even seem to notice Krystal as he started toward the kitchen, Krystal at first ignored the hateful black fox but, as she began to walk down the hall again she heard the unmistakable sound of the poor animal collapsing to the hard metal floor. Despite feeling like leaving him there her better nature shown through to the surface as she went to check on him. Aryn was face down on the cold metal floor when she rolled him over, his gray tank top was drenched in blood, his breathing sounded very labored, and he was running a high fever. Krystal, being stronger than she appeared, carried the injured vulpine to his room, it was the first time she'd ever been inside; it was actually heavily decorated, there was a large canopy bed against the far wall that looked remarkably comfortable, it was layered with blue blankets and it's four posts held a large red cloth high over it, with some kind of curtains dangling from the top tied to the posts, The wall across from the bed was home to a painting exactly like the one she' d seen in his study, the night stand next to his bed housed a small metal tray with a glass and a bottle of what she guessed was some sort of powerful liquor. As soon as Aryn was laying on his bed he groaned from the pain and looked to Krystal...

"I thought I said...not to come in here." He said in a weak voice.

"And I thought you told me that there's no point in refusing help when you need it..."

Aryn looked her in the eyes, "I...don't need...anyone..."

Whether it was from blood loss or what Krystal didn't know but, nonetheless Aryn had passed out. She quickly removed his blood soaked shirt and grimaced at the sight. There was a long, deep slash that stretched form his right side up to his left shoulder, near the center of his chest it was slightly exposing his sternum, it had light green...something forming around it's edges and was clearly infected, he had wrapped it in gauss, but that was not helping so far as she could see, plus his constant moving around with such a wound was constantly causing it to bleed.. Krystal made a quick trip to the medical bay, whether or not he liked it Aryn needed help, and Krystal doubted that he could stitch the wound up himself. She didn't like the idea of helping the loathsome creature but, he did help her when he didn't have to, the least she could do was see to it that the moron didn't bleed to death. After a short while the long gash in his chest had been stitched shut, he needed to rest and as stubborn as Aryn was she was certain that as soon as he woke up he'd be trying to move around again. Fortunately she remembered that Daxothrill stuff that Aryn had given her, she filled the needle but had no clue what dosage, and as she drew it near his arm his paw stopped her by the wrist...

"NO...no sleep." Aryn said pushing the injection away.

"You need to sleep...that cut was infected very badly. If you don't sleep then you body won't be able to fight it off."

"What do you care?" Aryn asked weakly.

"I don't...but, you helped me when I was in trouble, and my mother always told me to repay my debts." Krystal said, "I may have my faults but, at least I know when I'm bleeding myself to death."

For a moment Aryn kept holding the shot away, but then released her paw. As Krystal neared his arm again Aryn locked his paw around her wrist...

"Any more than 5ccs and you'll kill me." Aryn said pointing out that the syringe was filled to 25ccs.

Krystal refilled the hypodermic to the proper dose and injected it into the injured captains arm...

"Thanks...but, you'd better not be in here when I wake up."

"Yeah well...how long till this stuff works?" Krystal asked.

"With my weight...about 10 minutes."

"So..." Krystal said turning toward the picture on the wall, "Who's the pretty girl?"

For a moment Aryn gave her that 'mind your own business' look but to her surprise he spoke up, "He name...was Emilia."

"Judging by the look of you two in this picture you were pretty serious."

"You could say that..." Aryn pointed out in an annoyed tone, "Why is it you seem to have to know about my past?"

"I guess you could call it a compulsion I developed when I became a bounty hunter...I just know when people are hiding things from me and by nature I try to find out what that is."

"That's a bad habit...could...get ya...killed..."

Krystal looked over and noticed that he was sleeping now, "At least I don't have to hear that smart ass mouth for a few hours..."

Aryn's sleep was never filled with dreams, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had one...instead there was a reason he never slept on the ship, every time he closed his eyes he could see back to the mistakes of his past. Everything that led up to the here and the now, his entire ruined life that started with Pepper's little experiments and his god damned little unit...

**(Flashback)**

_(15 years ago)_

_They hadn't expected the results that they got from the Black Star Unit, every mission was a complete success and the infusion of the Cerinian DNA with that of the five participants had yielded far better results than Pepper or the scientists could have possibly dreamed of. Eventually the team was thought to be safe enough to leave alone for a time and see how these newly developed super soldiers would function in society on their own, so the team was dissolved for a period of time, in which two of the members had found a new life..._

_A familiar black fox, dropped onto a recliner in the middle of a large living room of a well furnished apartment in the upper districts of Katina city, his first idea being out of the Black Star Team was to get away from Corneria. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, Drayvn had found work loading cargo onto ships, it was a difficult job but he enjoyed it, not to mention all the heavy lifting kept him in a nice shape. As he sat there a set of white paws began to massage his sore shoulders, causing him to wince a bit..._

"_You're home early..." He said leaning his head back to look at the smiling face of the white vixen behind him._

"_Yeah..." She smiled back, "Maria gave me the rest of the day off...things got kinda slow at the office today...business has been going straight to hell recently."_

_Drayvn dropped his head against the back of the chair looking into the vixen's eyes, "You might wanna stop that you know."_

"_...and why's that?" She asked._

_She let out a playful shriek as the black fox lifted her and sat her on his lap facing him..._

"_Cuz you know what those paws do to me." He replied pulling her in nose to nose._

"_And when do you think I started to consider that a bad thing?" She asked rubbing her nose against his, "Besides...I don't think there was ever a time I saw you more relaxed."_

_Soon the two animal's clothing was scattered about the small apartment, Drayvn lay in a large bed with the vixen asleep with her head lying on his shoulder. Him and Emilia had fallen for each other during their time on the Black Star Team, the two spent all of their off time away from the team, where they could always be alone together. About a month after the team had dissolved Drayvn asked her to marry him, and since then they'd moved to this small apartment. These memories always seemed so real to Aryn, he could hear, smell, and even feel everything around him, and it all seemed to last forever..._

_The days seemed to pass as if he were there, watching everything from a third point of view, watching himself leave the apartment going to work then coming home, and at some point getting to hold her in his arms again. The time passed for Aryn as if weeks had gone by with nothing important really happening until one day the dark vulpine walked through the apartment door to see Emilia smiling with tears in her eyes..._

"_Hey...have you been crying?" He asked dropping his work gear and walking in to hold her._

"_Yeah..." She answered hugging him tightly, "You know that doctor that we went too about a month ago..."_

"_The one that said you could never get pregnant?" Drayvn asked after pulling her away to wipe the tears from her eyes._

"_Well I've been feeling sick in the mornings so I went back..." Emilia said handing her lover a small set of papers._

_He couldn't believe what he was reading, she'd been pregnant for nearly a month, something had gone wrong with the tests and the read out must have gotten fucked up. It was spelled out In the report that he read in plain black and white...Emilia was pregnant. He'd always wanted to be a father, but when he'd heard that it could never happen with Emilia he'd given up on the whole thing, if it wasn't going to be with her it wasn't going to happen. Drayvn threw the papers over his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. His idea of a perfect life was complete, he had more money from the military than he'd ever know what to do with, he was married to the most beautiful and caring vixen he'd ever known, and now he was a father. For a while the two stood there in each others arms but, soon enough they carried on about the day, planning for their future. Drayvn had already had plans to buy a bigger place, and now he had a reason to. As the days passed Aryn noticed a particular date on the calendar as his dream self left for work...August 5th..._

_'No...' Aryn begged, 'Don't make me watch. Please let me wake up!'_

_His pleas to whatever gods there might be were never heard, he yelled to his older self not to leave the building but, there was no stopping it, it was a dream, he couldn't control it...and it couldn't hear him. The day progressed the way all the others had until finally Drayvn walked through the apartment door. He instantly dropped his things and rushed into the room, there was blood everywhere, that lead to the bedroom where he found his wife laying against the corner with a phone in her paw, struggling to breath..._

"_EMM!!" He screamed as he rushed to her side, "Hey! Open your eyes damn it!"_

"_Dee..." She barely managed to say, "Is that you? I...can't see anything."_

_There were several bullet holes in her chest and stomach that covered the black fox in blood as he held her, "I'm right here...who the fuck did this?"_

"_They...they were...from...black...star...they...had the...logo...on their...uniforms." With whatever strength she had left Emilia pulled his head to her muzzle, "I...l-l-love...you...Dr-drayvn..."_

"_I love you too..." He replied brushing the hair from her eyes, "I swear...I'll kill whoever did this...I'll make 'em wish they were never born."_

_As her last breaths fell on his face he could hear the front door being kicked in, but that didn't stop the pain filled scream that rushed from his lungs...tearing into the hearts of anyone in range to hear it..._

"_FREEZE!!" _

_The one thing about cops that Drayvn had always hated the most...is how easily they could be bought, especially by the military. They'd do everything they could to place full responsibility on his paws, he was already half way there when they found him, he was at the scene and covered in her blood. As the officers pinned the teary eyed vulpine to the ground and cuffed his paws behind his back the scene cleared away..._

**(End flashback)**

Aryn instantly sat up in his bed screaming the tears still rolling down his face, of all the things that he'd be forced to relive that was the one day that he wished he could wipe from his memory. As the pain in his chest hit him he leaned against the headboard of his bed. He didn't bother fighting back the tears, it didn't matter no one was there to see him. It was all he could do to shed more tears for Emilia and their child...and wait for the day he could finally avenge their deaths...

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**AN:Well I tried my best to explain Aryn's current problem, the rest of his past will be told in flashbacks as well...so there may be quite a few. Sorry if this chapter was a bit sad...it was supposed to be, like I said...he has a fucked up past. Anyhow...thanks for reading R&R and I'll C'ya when I can get up another chapter. As always you readers are the best, and are all kick ass in my book...**

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox


	7. Chapter 6:Another Ruined Past

**A/N: Okay so check this out...I totally cut the end off of this chapter by mistake. OOPSY!! LOL! Sorry for the fuck up people here's the full thing!

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**Chapter 6**

(July 14th)

(11:17am GST)

It had taken him hours to clear the thoughts from his head, luckily his friend was trying to reach him when he reached the bridge. It was unusual to hear from Foxy1 so early in the morning. As usual when they were playing only the game really mattered, his friend had helped him through these moments more times than he or she could have possibly imagined, their games carried on for a few hours before Foxy mentioned something that needed to be done and left their games, Aryn didn't like quiting in the middle of a game but, for the most part their games had already helped...Aryn had managed to shove the memories into the back of his mind, Aryn rubbed his temple as he shut down his computer terminal, catching a small glimpse of the shackle chain that rattled against his right wrist, he reached into the collar of his shirt pulling out a small gold chain from which dangled a small silver key. He sighed for a moment before sliding the key back under his shirt...

"What's the key for?" Krystal's voice came from behind.

"Nothing..." Aryn said, he was a bit surprised as Krystal moved in front of him.

"Take the shirt off...I need to make sure you haven't torn those stitches." Krystal said with a serious look on her face.

Aryn did as she said, "Why are you doing this? I've read into your profile, you aren't known for mercy..."

"Only toward those that don't deserve it..." Krystal said inspecting her work on the black fox's chest.

"Huh..." Aryn scoffed, "And I deserve this mercy?"

"No...you deserve a good hearty kick in the ass, but, you helped me so you at the least deserve my thanks...and this is the best I can do."

Her words reminded him so much of Emilia that it was almost scary, she'd always believed in an eye for an eye as well. Krystal didn't do anything more than make sure that the stitches had held through the night. As soon as she was aware that they were all still in place she stood up and walked to a seat of her own, looking out at dancing colors of hyperspace...

"So...What's Black Star?" She suddenly asked. Krystal caught a clear glimpse of his angry expression in his reflection on the window, "Not my fault. You were talking in your sleep just before I left your room."

Aryn remained silent, "Fine. I'll just look it up then."

"Go ahead...only thing you'll find online is a study on theoretical space anomalies."

"Why? You find a way to erase that data too?" Krystal asked.

Aryn smiled smugly, "I told you to stay out of my business...didn't I?"

"So you take out your entire profile?"

"Nope. Mine, Emm's, and everyone else that knew me." He smiled.

"Well then...I do still have a copy of that reward poster with your face on it." Krystal said propping her feet up on a nearby terminal, "It is my job to turn wanted people in you know."

Aryn rocked his neck from side to side, "Other hunters have tried, and I'll make you the same promise I made them. I won't run...you come after me like they did, crew or not, I will kill you...without hesitation."

After that the room fell silent, Krystal knew he was being serious, hell he was always serious...as far as she was concerned this flight was taking far too long for her liking. Aryn was unbearable, he was loathsome, foul tempered, and full of himself. As for his threat however she actually believed he would do it without the slightest notion to hesitate. The hours of the day seemed like days within themselves, with all the silence about the ship Krystal found herself oddly relaxed, it reminded her of all the times she'd spent alone in space on her own ship. After hours of boredom she found herself in the ship's large training room, it was different than the small one on her ship, which was minuscule in comparison to Aryn's; it was a large round room layered with windows looking to the space beyond them, the room had every piece of equipment she could hope for and then some, weight machines, punching bags, exercise bikes, and in the center of the room a large round ring, it was odd she'd only seen squared ones before. She changed into her normal work out gear which she was sad to say she hadn't worn in some time, it was a simply sports top and sweatpants really, at these times her hair was always tied back into a large ponytail. After about twenty minutes of a stout routine she'd worked out several years ago she stopped herself and removed the protective punching gloves from her paws before taking a long drink from a bottle of ice water she had with her, taking a moment to shake the sweat from her face and hair.

Aryn sat on the bridge for some time before finding himself in a state of boredom that threatened to send him to sleep at a moment's notice...he wanted nothing to do with sleep however, in fear that more of his memories would crawl to the surface of his consciousness. Normally he'd go to the training room when he was in these situations but, in his current state...Ah...what did he care? Exercise was his stress relief, without it he felt he'd loose his mind or what bit of it was left after the dreams he'd been having. Aryn didn't like wearing a shirt when he worked out, he found it to be pointless to get so much clothing dirty, his gray sweats and punching gloves were enough for him any day...but, as he approached the door to the training room, he could hear the sound of something striking one of the heavy bags in the room with surprising force. He stepped inside and cocked his head to one side as he saw Krystal laying into one of the room's many heavy bags far across the room. Her form was perfect allowing her weight to be perfectly thrown from one blow to another without loss of balance or footing, she had a clear thought in her mind as she attacked the inanimate object before her, which clearly would have been decimated had it been anyone Aryn had ever fought, there was a trace of tears in her eyes, and a rather vicious snarl that bared her sharp teeth. Aryn smiled at the sight, she was actually kind of cute when she was angry, but then again why was she so angry? Be hadn't been that hard on her today...

"You break it you buy it..." Aryn's voice suddenly broke her concentration.

As she suddenly stopped her assault the bag swayed forward then back into her knocking her back a few steps, "What do you want?!" She snapped.

"Just a bit curious why someone that usually acts so calm..." Aryn said walking steadily to her side of the room, "Is fighting like her life depended on it against something that can't even hurt her. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Cerinian women are taught to defend ourselves as soon as we can walk on our own. Some of it Fox taught me too."

Krystal wiped away the tears in her eyes as she noticed the dark vulpine was staring, "You always try to hide it like that?" He asked.

"The fuck do you care?"

Aryn fell back and sat on the seat of a nearby exercise bike, "I read everything there is to know about you the day I found out you'd be staying here. I know what they did to you...Wolf and the others. That's what you were thinking about wasn't it? Can't say I'd react any differently..."

Aryn barely ducked the blue foot that flew at the back of his head flipping forward off the handle bars of the bike he sat on before turning toward Krystal who seemed to have heard enough. Her face was mangled by anger, and a new steady stream of tears was in her eyes which seemed to be focused on Aryn. As he stood there Aryn chuckled a bit at what he saw, she was absolutely livid about what he'd said...

"You have no...Idea what they did to me!" She growled rushing at him with a heavy punch that even Aryn would admit would have hurt like hell had he not leaped out of the way, "You could never understand what it's like..."

The angered vixen lunged forward seemingly with the intent to kill, her strikes however no matter how fast or precise scored nothing, her target was simply faster, better, and stronger. Her anger was fueled by every ounce of hatred and anger she'd ever felt or known, every moment of the pain she felt at the paws of Wolf and his crew seemed to flow through her, and soon enough Aryn felt a hot sting of pain in her chest, and looked to the now bloody fist of the blue vixen who's attack seemed to come from nowhere opening the stitches she'd placed there. Aryn realized that her thoughts had completely taken her over, there was no reasoning with her. His stance seemed to provoke her to take the fight to the next level as her claws were bared this time swiping wildly at him, behind her eyes Aryn was no longer standing before her, rather she only saw the figure of her old team mates from Star Wolf. As Aryn blocked and swayed every attack that came at him he swept her legs from beneath her, quickly climbing on top of her and pinning her wrists to the mat. Her instant reaction was the scream of terror that came from a rape victim as memories flashed through her head instantly causing Aryn to release her arms. Unfortunately this proved to be a bad idea as a powerful fist caught him under his chin knocking him from his seat and onto his back, he quickly recovered rolling back onto his feet however. This time as she rushed forward Krystal threw a punch that caused her to spin about as it missed driving her foot into his shins, but instead of hitting the floor chest fist Aryn landed in a push-up position and swung his legs about as though he were on a pummel horse, tearing Krystal's legs from beneath her, however as she landed on her back both of her feet connected with the black vulpine's chest sending him sprawling to the floor. As he shook the cobwebs out of his head his eyes widened and he quickly rolled out of the way as the blue warrior plummeted from the air driving her fist where his face once was. Krystal rushed him again as he stood up throwing another punch, but, Aryn had had enough playing around and caught her by the wrist, she tried another punch with the other fist but it missed causing Aryn to turn her about holding both arms to her chest. She let out another scream as though he were some sort of attacker...

"KRYSTAL!!" His voice boomed into her ear snapping her to her senses, "No matter what you've convinced yourself it isn't your fault...that sort of thing can never be your fault."

Krystal couldn't react, she could only listen and try her hardest to make the tears stop. Aryn slowly let go of her arms and made his way to the door looking back only to see the blue vixen covering her eyes with her paws, sobbing. He could recall times he'd seen Emilia like that, the things he would have done to make her tears go away...but, he knew better than anyone that there was no easy way of dealing with your past, you could only take a step forward at a time and hope that some day there would be no more need for the tears. It was almost an hour later that Krystal was making her way back to her room when she found a bloody paw print on the wall leading to Aryn's room, the whole fight was a blur to her, she couldn't really remember any of it. As she approached his door it slid open and she found the black vulpine sitting on his bed trying to clean the freshly opened wound on his chest...

"I thought I told you..."

"I know stay out...but your chest." She said realizing that she must have been the one to open it back up, "I'll get the kit and stitch that back up."

A moment or two later Krystal brought the med-kit back with her and forced Aryn to lay down so she could start working, "I-I'm sorry if this was my fault, when I think about what happened...sometimes I loose it." Krystal said sterilizing the needle for the stitching.

"I shouldn't have brought it up like that...this is my fault."

Krystal smiled as Aryn jumped a bit at the pinch of the needle piercing his flesh, "Did I just hear the captain admit he was wrong?"

"Call it what you want."

"Well then...maybe since you're admitting that you can answer a few more questions for me." She said as she began to sew his flesh back together.

"Fine I'll give you two..." Aryn replied.

"Alright...who are you really? Cuz I seriously doubt you're Aryn Stromwell..."

He rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh, "Fine...My real name is Drayvn Dark, I was born October 22nd 3167 in a small city about 2,000 miles south of Corneria City, called Stotsdale. My parents died when I was 8 and my brother raised me until I was 18 when I joined the military..."

Krystal chuckled, "That was pretty descriptive."

"Next question..." He said flatly.

"What happened?" Krystal asked keeping her attention on her work, "You know. To you two?" She finished tilting her head toward the picture of him and Emilia.

"We met in the military..." Aryn didn't want to talk about it but, he did say he'd answer two questions, "...she was ex-special ops, intelligence officer, smartest woman I ever knew. During one of our missions I broke six of my ribs and she broke an arm and leg, we were stuck in the infirmary for three days before they'd let us go. We got to talking since there was nothing else to do, neither of us really cared for TV so we wouldn't watch anything...the only thing there was to do was talk with one another. After a while we started to get more familiar with each other and eventually we...fell in love. We stayed in the military and kept everything to ourselves, didn't wanna violate chain of commands or anything you know? After we got out of the military we got married, and moved to Katina, her idea. Our instant idea was to settle into a nice place and start a family..." He seemed to hesitate at this point, "...but, one day I came home from work and she was bleeding to death on our bedroom floor. Someone had come in and shot her four times...she was about a month pregnant."

Krystal was a bit stunned, "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't be..." Aryn replied.

"Did you ever find out who did it?" Krystal asked.

"That would be three questions." Aryn replied with a sigh, "The agreement was two."

"Fine...I can respect that. I can tell you didn't want to answer the last one anyhow...and I can understand why?"

After sitting through the procedure of getting his wound closed off Aryn pulled himself into a sitting position, "Now...maybe you can answer something for me. If you can fight that well...why didn't you fight when Wolf and his team assaulted you all those years ago?"

Krystal blew air out her nostrils, "You think I didn't try?!" She retorted, "Fighting is little use when your held down by three men!"

"The report didn't say much about the whole thing, just that it was all hearsay..." Aryn said.

"Everyone was so quick to think I was lying after what happened with Fox..."

"Well for what it's worth I believe you..." Aryn said reaching for the bottle of liquor on his night stand, "No do me a favor and get the hell outta my room." He said his voice taking back it's normal sting.

Krystal rolled her eyes as she picked up the med-kit and headed out the door, he was nicer than he let on, but he tried to play it off as if he never acted kind to begin with, she wondered why but, that was one question she wasn't going to ask him. She made her way back to her room hoping that the memories of her past didn't haunt her nightmares like Aryn's did his, luckily as she lay down after taking a quick shower she found no problem getting into a nice dream free sleep, happy that by tomorrow they would finally reach Zarr...and hopefully find Fox in a means to clear up this entire thing. Aryn on the other hand was not so lucky, every time he would close his eyes he could see it beginning all over again, he sat there on the edge of his bed with his palms over his eyes. He very rarely got any sleep in the fear that he would see everything again...at most before Krystal showed up he would only sleep about an hour a night...sometimes getting that rare night's sleep after his body had become completely exhausted and would no longer allow such short rests. It was these nights he didn't mind so much as his exhausted mind and body rarely had the strength to dream.. He lay back down on his bed, he didn't want to sleep but he needed his strength if Fox was even one half of the fighter he was made out to be. Soon enough his body gave in to the comfort given to him by his bedding and Aryn was soon pulled into the arms of a deep slumber...

**(Flashback)**

(15 years ago)

_The worst thing about the memories was the fact that they seemed to continue where they had left of from the most previous dream. As Aryn watched on as he did in the dreams his vision faded from darkness to a damp smelly stone room where his older self, Drayvn, was laying with his arms chained to the wall by two familiar looking metal shackles. They'd never even tried to arrest him, the police took him straight to the general, he was stricken with the butt of a rifle before waking up where he was. As the door opened before him the bright light practically blinded him. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious but, his head was pounding, and for some reason the room was freezing..._

"_Hello Drayvn..." A familiar voice said as a figure stepped out of the light into the room._

"_YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" The black fox screamed leaping from his spot only to be pulled to the ground inches from the general's face._

"_I imagine you're trying to use your powers right now but...this room was built solely for you keeping your body heat below 68 degrees at all times." The general said, "You disobeyed commands Drayvn. I had my worries about you and Emilia's relationship from the beginning, but decided against my own better judgment and allowed it. That child would have opened this entire project to the public..."_

"_So what? You...can play god but, you can't handle the problems that come with it?" _

_The general sighed, "This has nothing to do with god...or any of your fictional explanations for life."_

"_You'd best believe in god..." Drayvn replied, "Cuz as soon as I get out of here you're I'm sending your sorry ass to him."_

"_Drayvn let me assure you..." The hound said moving to the door, "You will never make it out of this room alive. If I have to see to the fact personally...I'll return as soon as the board on the project decides what to do with you. Good bye Mr.Dark..." _

_As the door closed leaving Drayvn to his frigid prison he knew there was nothing he could do to escape, he tried repeatedly to pull the chains from the walls, but they were tight and weren't going to budge not even with his strength. The days rolled by, one after another, they kept him fed but, they kept in in that ice box at all hours of the day. At some point he considered suicide, but, how would he be able to show his face to Emilia in the afterlife knowing that he'd taken his own life as a means of running away? He couldn't do it...he wouldn't do it. There were things left undone, his wife had been killed along with his unborn child...people needed to die before he himself gave up. As he sat there day by day thinking of nothing more than tearing the hearts out of whoever he could find that had something to do with Emilia's death, he became withdrawn, hitter, and hate filled. Somewhere among the weeks he'd spent in that hell the only thing he'd become capable of feeling was hatred...sheer hatred and blood lust for the people that had wronged him...but, most of all be began to hate himself...he hated himself for ever giving in to the program and thinking that for one moment it was actually for the better of life in the Lylat system, he'd come to terms with the truth...he along with the others were nothing more that weapons, weapons and puppets for a government that cared nothing for the people. The days passed turning into weeks and finally months, he'd never seen the general's face again. He managed to keep his sanity in tact for the most part by focusing on his physical improvement exercising daily until his body simply said 'no more'. As more time passed he changed from the thinner fox Emilia and his friends had known to the more powerful looking intimidating person he was now...the shackles on his wrists had become weightless to him. His exercise had gone beyond natural limits over whatever godless amount of time he'd spent there, using a single armed handstand to do some sort of strange push-ups._

_One day as he sat there eating the slop they gave him to keep up his strength he could hear a panicked alarm outside the room...something was happening, something caused the entire building to shake loosening some of the bricks in the walls. As Drayvn noticed this he began to try again at loosening himself from the walls...but there was no give. Another explosion caused a small chunk of the ceiling to give in causing a small hose to begin fluttering about wildly spraying a white mist everywhere. Realizing that this was how they were keeping his room cold Drayvn reached for the hose and aimed it's stream at the links of chain on his restraints, the nitrogen from the hose quickly encased the link in ice, and with another powerful tug the link shattered freeing his right arm with the shackle itself still intact, he quickly copied the maneuver with the left and was happily free of the restraints. As he freed himself there was a loud slam against the door causing it to dent inward a small bit, two more times the door was hit then for a moment it stopped. Suddenly the door was flung from it's hinges slamming into the far wall..Standing in it's place was a dark purple almost black looking insect like creature; it was nearly as tall as Drayvn and walked of four pointed legs, it didn't even look natural to him, but what he could only determine was the thing's head shot in his direction and upon letting out a bizarre sounding screech the massive bug leaped at the fox, **bringing** it's front most legs down in a clear and obvious attempt to impale him. Drayvn, taken by surprise, reached out and caught the thing's legs it's surprising weight slamming him into the wall, as the thing began to overpower him Drayvn pushed back a bit and released the creature's legs, and as it slammed them forward Drayvn rolled to one side allowing it to wedge it's legs into the wall. With the creature trapped he quickly made his way out of the room and searched the gored remains of the two guards that were nearby. The freed vulpine found a shotgun and a rifle on the two guards and made his way out of the building...the Aparoid invasion had begun. His trek through the ruined city of Corneria was nothing compared to the hell he faced in that cell, the only place he needed to get was to the hangers, where he stole the ship that got him off of that planet..._

**(End Flashback)**

"...ryn."

"ARYN!! Wake your lazy ass up, we're in Zarr's orbit!"

Aryn quickly rolled over to tell Krystal to get the hell out of his room only to find that the voice had been shouting at him from the speakers overhead. As he rolled out of bed and began to get his clothes on the vixen's voice called through the intercom again...

"Keep your fucking pants on! I'll be there when I'm ready! Christ!"

Somewhere on the bridge Krystal smiled, it was good to know he was feeling well enough to be an asshole again...


	8. Chapter 7:Getting Personal

**Chapter 7**

(July 16th)

(11:45am)

Zarr next to it, even Xenass wasn't so bad. Humid, dry, a practical wasteland...the planet's desert environment gave little space to support life but for some reason people actually lived there. Water in Zarr was a rare commodity, the city they were in at the moment possessed one of the only regional wells in the entire area making it a center of commerce and trade on the planet, small gang wars were known to be held in attempts to steal possession of these wells but, thanks to the thick number of mercenaries that often came here for work most of them ended up dead. For anyone with Fox's history that needed quick cash this was definitely the place to go. As soon as the two stepped out off of the ship, Krystal looked around and wiped her forehead, she was already sweating, she could see why Aryn was only wearing a tank top and a pair of long jean shorts, oddly enough the only weapon she could ever see on him was that damned sword. She had luckily been here before however on a job hunting down some rat...literally, and learned about the place's unfriendly environment, thus she was accordingly dressed in a pair of shorts a bit shorter than Aryn's as his hung below his knees and hers just above, and she as well wore a tank top, she however carried her spear and blaster as usual. Aryn had NAV scan the entire area and to his mild joy, they found themselves standing before the ship they had set out to find; it was a small, simple transport, most likely stolen. It's wings were short and stubby compared to the wings on most ships, coming straight out and angling downward a bit near their tips, the cockpit looked as though it could only support space for two or three, and accept for the nose of the craft which came to a small squared off point, it's frame looked mostly rectangular...

Aryn smirked at the ship, "Your boyfriend has shitty taste in ships."

"He's NOT my boyfriend." Krystal growled baring her teeth at Aryn's words.

"Humph...Looks like he ain't here anyhow..." The black fox said, "You wait here and hide so he doesn't see you...call my communicator if you spot him." He said walking off.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Krystal demanded.

"The nearest bar I can find."

"Isn't it a little early for you to start drinking?" Krystal asked.

"Actually there was never a better time for a drink."

The town outside of the large star port was nothing impressive by modern day standards, most of the buildings were worn and made of wood or brick nothing like the massive metal monstrosities on Corneria. There were few people on the dry arid streets, and the sand was kicked up by the passing wind which made the environment even drier...Aryn knew a lot about these places, and in humidity like this a bar where drinks were plentiful was the most likely place to find just about anybody in such a shit hole of a town. Aryn had taken several jobs in this town before, mainly to clear out the morons that thought they could control the water wells, mainly gang members without a clue about what they were doing, a bunch of lowlifes that were out to make quick money. The local bar was run by a tiger named Tajra...she was a bit quiet for someone running a business but, for the most part she kept some stable jobs for Aryn whenever he'd come by. The streets led Aryn to the furthest end of town where, the small building stood; he had to hand it to Tajra she really did take care of her place, the building showed almost no signs of the wear and tear of the other buildings about the town, it's walls were painted a light green but the desert's sandstorms had worn away most of the paint. The doors were oddly enough the old saloon doors which hung at about the middle of the door frame. This place was nothing like the bar Nex ran on the Xenass Colony, there were of course unpleasant smells as came with most bars. Unlike most of the places that Aryn would enter nobody really bothered to even look away from their drinks. The place was packed as usual, and as Aryn found a seat he noticed everyone's attention turning toward the door where he found a certain blue vixen approaching his table...

"You know with you here he could get away." Aryn pointed out.

Krystal sat at the other side of the table, "Not without this he can't." She said rolling a small ship piece across the table, "It's the drive module to his port side thrusters. No leaving here without his engines."

Aryn scoffed at the idea, "Maybe...unless your boyfriend can just take one from another ship."

"He's not..."

"I get the point." Aryn interrupted her.

"Anyhow...it's an older ship, the modules won't match. Not unless he can find another piece of shit like that around here."

"This place is a piece of shit." Aryn replied turning his attention to the orange and black striped tiger standing at the table.

"Hey Taj..." Krystal quickly said.

"Hello Kursed...after someone else today? You haven't been around. You gonna stay for a drink this time?" The tiger asked.

"Just give me whatever he's having..."

Aryn looked to the tiger, "The usual...but fist..." He said handing Tajra a small photo, "Seen him in here recently?"

Their host scoffed tossing the small profile photo of Fox to the table, "Yeah he was in here...yesterday. Asked a few questions about Black Side Alley had a drink and left."

"Why would he want to know about that hell hole?" Aryn asked more to himself than to anyone else.

Tajra shrugged her shoulders, "Search me...let me go and get those drinks."

Krystal decided to wait until the tiger was gone, "What's Black Side Alley? I usually don't stick around this town long enough to learn anything other than what I needed on a mark."

Aryn stretched his neck from side to side, "It's a valley about 100 kilometers east of here. Nobody goes there anymore."

"Why?"

"The Raiders that's why..." Tajra said appearing with two glasses of clear liquid which she set in front of the two foxes, "They're a pretty big gang that calls an old ghost town in that valley home...Aryn here has had a job or two..."

"Three..." Aryn added taking a sip from his drink.

"Well then three." Tajra said rolling her light yellow eyes at the vulpine's interruption, "Anyhow he's done several jobs keeping the creeps away from the town's well. They keep trying to take it over, for some reason the guy in that photo asked about this...he seemed to find it interesting, especially wanted to know all he could get on their leader. Nobody's ever seen him but rumor says he's a big fella named Raven."

Krystal noticed that Aryn's ears twitched a bit at the sound of the word...she could tell something was already working through that mind of his...

"For the longest time we haven't seen hide or hair of any of those bandits but, none of us are complaining."

Aryn took another sip of his drink, "You should...there are two of the lousy fuckers in here right now...most likely waiting for me to get here, they haven't stopped staring at me since I came in here." The black vupine said tilting his head toward a table in the corner of the bar.

Sitting there were two shady looking figures; a gray furred feline missing an arm with a terrible looking scar across the side of his face, and a red furred echidna with an equal injury as well as a missing eye. Krystal looked back to Aryn, there was no doubt that their current appearance was thanks to him some time ago...

"They ran..." The dark fox said answering an unasked question.

"What the hell are they waiting for?" Krystal asked,

"Us to leave the bar...most likely wondering what they're gonna do with you once they're done with me."

As Krystal thought about it she took a sip of her drink nearly spitting it out in surprise before swallowing it, "It's fucking water."

"You'd best drink it...a body can dehydrate really fast out here. Alcohol would only make matters worse, speed up the process, so they only serve water here."

"So then what do we do?" Krystal asked looking to Tajra who had walked back to the bar.

"I'm gonna finish this drink..." Aryn replied, "Then step out that door and as soon as they follow me we won't have a problem anymore, because they won't live long enough to think about the mistake of following me."

Aryn did just as he'd said, he finished the glass of water, picked his sword up off the table, and headed out of the bar...and as he'd predicted the two followed him. There were no sounds at all as the two left the bar, not for the kind of commotion that Aryn had talked of before leaving. Krystal finished her drink and thanked Tajra before leaving the bar. It had been completely silent, the gray cat lay in the street a deep gash spilling his insides onto the dusty road, a nearby set of tracks gave her the impression that someone was dragged through the dirt...Krystal quickly followed the trail to a small shack on the far end of the town where she could hear the sounds of Aryn's voice. Upon entering the small building she found the echidna as well as her missing partner. The red furred echidna was unconscious with Aryn's sword pinning him by the shoulder to the wall of the wooden shack. It looked to Krystal like some sort of storage area, compared to the outside the tiny place was pleasantly cool, Aryn was sitting on a wooden storage barrel with another glass of water in his paw...

"Where the hell did you learn how to use that thing?" Krystal asked, it was absurd how fast he could attack someone with it even sheathed.

Aryn let out a light fit of laughter, "Samurai movies..." He answered with a smile.

Krystal rolled her eyes at his immaturity, he'd rather make jokes than tell her the truth, "Do you take anything seriously?"

Aryn simply looked at her and placed his index finger over his lips before looking back to the wounded and trapped animal pinned to the wall, "My work..."

It was at least an hour before the echidna finally woke up, only to recoil at the sight of Aryn's face...

"Look who's finally awake?" Aryn said with a smug grin, "We can finally get started."

"You might as well kill me..." The echidna said, "Cuz I ain't tell'n you shit."

Aryn chuckled, "It's a good thing I don't wanna hear 'shit' then huh? Have you seen this fox?" He asked holding up the photo of Fox.

"Fuck you..." The beaten echidna answered.

Aryn shook his head lightly, "I seriously doubt you're my type. Now...I'm gonna ask one more time before you start begging me to kill you." The black fox replied, "Have...you...seen...him?"

The animal remained silent as Krystal walked by and took a seat somewhere behind Aryn...

"Hmmm..." Aryn hummed stretching his neck, "I see you're going to make me be an ass about this aren't you? Check this out. You know who my favorite people are?" Aryn asked not expecting an answer, "The Drogan from Aetheria, you see they're really peaceful animals being dragons but, when you piss one off you learn about their..." Aryn searched for the words, "Gruesome side. They developed this form of torture that was said to be absolutely effective in every way to deal with; spies, outsiders, thieves especially...they really hate thieves. You see what they'd do is they'd take your hand like so..." Aryn said pulling the animal's hand toward him forcing all but one finger into a balled fist, "Then they'd ask you the question again. Have you seen the fox in the photo?"

This time when there was no answer the dark furred vulpine placed the animal's finger in him mouth and bit down until the creature's hand fell free of his jaws with a bloody nub where there was once a pinky finger. This caused the echidna to let out a scream of pain that hurt Krystal's ears. As soon as his screams died down Aryn turned his head to the side and spit the dismembered digit onto the wooden floorboards of the shack along with a large clump of blood, he spit a few more times clearing the blood from his mouth then wiped a trail of blood from his lip on the back of his paw...

"See..." Aryn said stopping to spit out more blood, "...they always started with the fingers...easier to bite through. Now I could stop there and let you talk but, you aren't going to do that are you? But, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and let you make up your mind for yourself. You wanna tell us what we need to know? Or, do I move on to the next finger?"

Though his paw was shaking madly from the shock of loosing his finger in such a violent manner the echidna managed to raise his middle finger up toward Aryn's face, causing Krystal to laugh a bit, before Aryn snatched the echidna's paw in it's current position...

"Well that's the last time you're ever gonna do that." He quickly said using his jaws to bite off, issuing another ear shattering scream from the animal's lips.

"Look..." Aryn said after spitting the next finger over near the last one, "I'd really rather not do this. You're screaming is hurting my ears, and you taste perfectly foul. So why not just tell me what I need to know and it can stop hurting."

This time the animal crossed the line however as he spit in Aryn's face. Aryn leapt up with his paw at the animal's neck his claws clearly dug into his flesh ready to tear out whatever he could catch in his grasp...

"Is your leader's name Raven?" He so low that Krystal was barely able to hear the word 'leader'.

Something Aryn had done caused the animal to release an even louder scream than before, "YES!" He finally screamed.

Aryn quickly ripped his sword free from the mutilated animal's shoulder, and wiped it clean of all traces of blood before sliding it slowly back into it's scabbard. He paid no mind to either Krystal or the now unconscious animal that lay on the floor before leaving the building. Krystal of course rushed out to follow him as Aryn was headed toward the docking station that they'd landed in. As she caught up to him Aryn was paying an animal with a small roll of cash before climbing onto a nearby hover bike. He began to take off before the blue vixen stepped in front of him placing her paws on the front of the vehicle...

"Where the fuck are you going in such a hurry!?" She demanded.

"Nowhere..." Aryn said starting the bike up, "...now get your ass out of my way before I go through it."

"What is the deal with you?" Krystal half yelled over the bike's engine.

Aryn waited until she was out of the way, "It's personal." He weakly said before the bike shot off toward the horizon, leaving nothing behind but a large cloud of dust as the bike tore over the land it's sheer speed kicking all of the sand up from beneath it.

In a fit of anger Krystal turned to face the cat that had rented Aryn the bike, "How much?" She demanded.

"50 credits an hour..."

Krystal pulled several bills from her pocket and tossed them at the feline before hopping onto another of the horribly under maintained crafts and tearing through the town's main street hot on the black fox's tail. He knew something that he wasn't saying and it had everything to do with their mission...and she was going to learn what it was if she had to beat it out of him herself...

* * *

**A/N: Hey all...Chapter 7 is up. I'm hoping that this thing doesn't drag out too long but, hey it could be a pretty long fic even thought I'm gonna try to keep this one under 30 chapters...then again I was also gonna do that with Chains of Fate and look what happened there. sigh well, anyone who's reading both chapter fourty...uh...8? No 2 chapter 42 of Chains of Fate should be up and posted soon enough.**

**R&R and hope you enjoy it...like always thanks for the tons of support you guys all kick ass...**

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox


	9. Chapter 8:Desert Frostbite

**Chapter 8**

(July 16th)

(3:22pm)

Aryn's mind was focused on the task of crossing the planet's desert landscape in order to get to Black Side Alley, which lingered far off in the distance. The harsh wind dried his nose and the sand picked up from the bike that sped across the desert land assaulted his flesh with small abrasions and cuts. The heat was near unbearable but, not to him, he hadn't even noticed the sweltering heat as his mind was perfectly focused on that one name that Tajra had mentioned...Raven. His teeth grit together at the sheer thought of that name causing his jaw to hurt, even if it had to be one at a time and years apart, he'd find them all. As his bike flew through the open desert his thoughts went back to that fist day, the day he heard the truth...

**(Flashback)**

_**(5 years ago)**_

_Drayvn had searched hidden for years, taking over the name of an old friend while finding refuge on his brother, Eric's supply transport, the largest ship the fox had ever seen. Eric had his doubts but, he knew that his brother was incapable of the crimes that he was being framed for...the poor animal was caged down in that stronghold for 8 years...they had attempted to simply leave him there and cover everything up as if it had never taken place. Drayvn and Eric had gone back to the two lover's apartment once but, they found that all evidence of a crime at all had been wiped clean and new tenants were set to move into the room. Eric had noticed a change in his little brother, he seemed to spend all of his spare time in training, something Eric had tried to get him to take more seriously before, and for one that was once so talkative the vulpine now often went days or even weeks at a time without saying a word. One day Eric found his brother in the docking bay readying one of his wolfens for take off..._

"_And where the hell are you going?" Eric asked._

"_Papetoon...someone there has the answers I need."_

"_Drayvn this isn't healthy. You know as well as I do the last thing Emm would have wanted would be for you to be obsessing like this." His brother said, "I can understand how you feel..."_

_Drayvn turned pushing his brother away, "DON'T you fucking dare." He growled, "You can't even begin to understand what it's like. You chose the life of the loner a long time ago when Beth left you."_

"_Drayvn...I'm not trying to stop you." Eric said in a caring tone, "But whatever you're going through...know that you're not alone."_

_The younger sibling turned his head to the wolfen, "I'll always be alone."_

_**(2 days later)**_

_Everyone was convinced when they heard that general Pepper had died during the Aparoid invasion, but Drayvn had found out the truth. The military learned about the black fox's escape from their little prison and had taken the old hound to a place they would have thought he would be safe...his old home town, the last place in Lylat that anyone would look for him...retirement. They even changed the old dog's name but, that didn't help after the things that Emilia had taught her lover about information gathering. Drayvn sat on a small cliff overlooking a small community of condos on the southern Papetoon City beach. The one house he watched was a small cabin, well made, well taken care of, with a freshly manicured lawn, light blue walls and a red shingled roof, with large glass doors that opened into a patio that gave any sitting there a marvelous view of the ocean. As the sun set over the horizon seeming to set the sea on fire as the entire horizon took on a red glow for the last few moments of sunset, the young fox leaped from his stoop. Home security...hah...the house's alarms were easily disarmed for someone with his brand of training, after all even before Black Star his job was being silent and entering a place without notice. The old hound was seated in his living room on a small recliner with what looked like a small glass of vodka in his paw..._

"_Hello Drayvn..." His old voice cracked as the fox silently made his way behind him, "I knew that it was only a matter of time before you found me here. The information you want is in the profile on the counter behind you, the names and profiles of the four that took part in Emilia's death..." Pepper said setting down the glass, "...but I guess you've come here for more than that haven't you?"_

"_Good guess." Drayvn's voice cracked, "You ruined my life, and worse yet you took my child's life before it ever had a chance to defend itself, you deserve worse than death."_

"_Do you really think that it has set so easily on my conscience...knowing that my command caused the death of your wife and child?"_

_Drayvn stepped closer looming over the old hound, "Life of luxury...is that what you're promised? The money? Was that reason enough to have Emm killed? Or did you do it to protect your fucking weapons and your own ass form the council? If you hadn't used me as a decoy after the Aparoid attack they would have found out about your little freak show, huh? That's why you framed me...they were getting too close to Black Star so you set all this up. If my kid would have been born your whole little secret would have gotten out, and you'd have been banished to that shit hole Venom just like your old friend Andross..."_

"_I see Emilia taught you a great deal about following clues."_

"_She taught me everything..."_

_The old dog took another drink from the small glass, "I...am truly sorry Drayvn."_

_Drayvn cracked his knuckles, "You should be."_

_There was no pleasure for Drayvn killing the old man...it was just something that he'd convinced himself he had to do, everyone that had something to do with Emilia's death would pay on a far greater scale for everything they'd taken from him. As the fox left the building wiping the blood from his paws he looked to the contents of the folder in his paws and was applauded by what he saw; Rose, Raven, Mashif...his eyes teared over at the sight of the last profile in the folder however, he'd have never thought it possible but the proof was right before his eyes..._

_Ghost Unit: Eric G. Dark_

**(End Flashback)**

Aryn shook the memories from his head before giving the bike beneath him all the throttle it could muster jolting forward in a violent burst of speed and dust. As his bike sped through the desert at wreck less speeds he never noticed that far in the distance another trail of dust could be seen tearing through the desert in his direction. The valley split between two large cliffs making a large round basin where the old ghost town was, it's location was perfect though as the high walls of the canyon like cliffs gave the place shade at almost every hour of the day...Aryn brought his vehicle to a stop some ways away from the cliffs where there was a small nook to hide the compact vehicle in. He made his way to a bit of high land on a small ridge about 30 feet above the town where he sat with a small set of binoculars scanning the area until something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He knew she wasn't going to listen to him but, he had hoped that Krystal wouldn't get in his way. Aryn was down the side of the hill in her path before she could even make it to the mouth of the valley causing her to pull the bike to a fast stop, Aryn sighed in annoyance and showed her where to hide the bike before she followed him back up to the ridge he'd been spying from...

"What is your problem running off and leaving me there like that?" She asked as she knelt beside him, only to have his free paw snatch her muzzle shut.

"Shut...the fuck...up. Unless you wanna get us both killed." He demanded pushing her face back away.

"Alright..." She replied in a much lower voice.

As Krystal looked out over the small, near dilapidated town she noticed that there was one larger building near the back that seemed a bit better taken care of than the rest of them. As she studied the area Aryn waved his paw signaling for her to come over and handed her the binoculars pointing to a small building where two animals were standing talking with one another...

"He look familiar to you?"

As soon as her eyes locked onto the reddish-brown furred fox even from behind she knew it was him, "That's Fox..."

"I need to get closer to find out how many there are in the town..."

Krystal held up a paw. "53...not counting the 15 in the large building and Fox."

Aryn scoffed at the smart ass telepath, "At least you're good for something." He said moving back down the hillside, "This time....stay here, I can't do this and babysit you at the same time."

Krystal's expression developed a murderous glare as she watched the black vulpine as he headed down the side of the cliff where he slowly vanished from sight. Heading toward the small town, she couldn't believe what he'd just said...babysit? Who the fuck did he think he was? Treating her like a new born kit...he had treated her like shit before, but she thought that after they had gotten along on board the ship that his attitude had changed somewhat, but now as far as she cared the bastard could go out and get himself killed. She knew Fox was innocent and therefor had to talk to him, whether they had a shaky past or not. Aryn found himself in a situation that reminded him far too much of his time in the military...before Black Star, when him and his team's only mission was to eliminate their target without being discovered. Almost by instinct the fox fell into the shadows moving between the canyon walls and the buildings that surrounded the small valley floor, unfortunately this was nothing like his time in the military his mission was not to kill but, to bring Fox in alive. Which posed a bit of a problem, there were animals stationed all over the small town, his trained eyes caught small glimpses of them as they hid behind windows and in the shadows, waiting for someone stupid enough to trespass on their turf. This would make it exceedingly difficult to get past them, especially if he found himself having to pull Fox out of the town by the fur of his tail.

It was as the still unseen fox moved against the back side of a building slinking through the shadows, out of the view of any that could or would see him. He noticed something up ahead, he had no idea how she'd beaten him there but, at the far end of the next building he could see Krystal's backside as her head was slightly peeking around the corner. He crept up behind the blue spy and before she could make a sound she found herself pinned to the wall of the building with a powerful paw holding her mouth shut...

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" He had to try his hardest not to yell, "I'm not here to get myself killed because of your little crush on lover boy out there."

"Let go!" Krystal growled as her fist caused Aryn to stumble back a few steps, "I am sick and tired of you and your fucking bullshit!"

"Keep your fucking voice down..." Aryn warned the raving vixen.

"Fuck yo..."

Before Krystal could finish her sentence she found herself in the same powerful grip as before this time with the incredibly sharp blade of Aryn's sword to her throat, "I said keep you voice down, or I'll fucking cut it out. I won't be caught and killed in a place like this, just because of some stubborn little vixen that doesn't even know when orders are for her own fucking good..."

As soon as the blade left it's position Krystal's right paw drug it's small claws against the side of his face, causing Aryn to stumble back with his own paw on his cheek. As he moved his paw he looked at his bloody palm for a moment, "No wonder why he left you." He retorted the strike in a cold tone.

Those words were far worse than any insult he could have possibly thought up, to assure her than he had left her on Kew on purpose just because she was too unbearable to deal with. She tried to reply, in any way, but those words were the worst thing anyone had ever said to her, amongst all the lies, the rumors, and the hated curses...that one little sentence hurt more than anything the animals of Lylat could have ever thought to say. As her hurt filled eyes filled with tears Aryn could see that he'd crossed a very thin emotional line, there was no telling what kind of damage he might have done...and in his hardened state of awareness it was hard to care. It seemed as if she'd stopped breathing as she looked at him with sheer disbelief that he'd even said such a thing, and as her mouth opened she took in a shallow stuttering breath, the kind that let you know that you'd just stricken someone's heart with the worst type of injury. As her tears began to fall she knocked the horrible animal out of her way and rushed off toward the bikes they'd left hidden, she had completely forgotten about Fox, at that point she simply wanted to disappear from the face of the world. Aryn couldn't tell why but, something about her eyes at that point of realization at what he had said reminded him so much of Emilia that it hurt. He really hadn't meant to say such a thing but, the words just came, he knew all too well what it was like to doubt yourself. With a heavy sigh the black fox looked back toward the fox standing by the large building; who was soon joined by three familiar looking forms and one unfamiliar...a black avian wearing a red shirt and blue jeans that looked like they'd seen better days, a sickly thin gray wolf who wore white jeans and a white shirt, a rather well formed vixen with fiery red fur and long matching hair, her light red shirt was covered by a white sleeveless vest and her pants were what appeared to be uncomfortably tight, and the last he had no clue about, a Drogan, thing but muscular reptile with an elongated snout, his body covered in light azure colored scales that almost matched the color of Krystal's fur, a small set of horns curved from his forehead along the top of his skull back into a long mane of flowing dark blue hair, his eyes were like all the others of his race, a bright golden hue...

"Rose? Rave? Mashif?" Aryn asked himself, "What the hell are they doing here? And who's the drogan? What the fuck is going on here?"

He tried his hardest to hear in on the conversation between the four but, at his current distance it was impossible to make out anything. He was now beginning to wish he'd not forced Krystal away. As they all sat there talking Fox's ears stood on end, and suddenly Aryn flew from his cover slamming into a pile of barrels, several of them exploding on impact, the invisible force that had thrown him with such force was already clear to him...Mashif was a telekinetic and a telepath, a powerful one. As Aryn shook the cobwebs from his head he felt something tighten around his neck, and as he looked to the ground his own shadow had a tight grasp around his neck seemingly animated of it's own free will which suddenly threw him back into the open, Raven had the ability to manipulate shadows with his mind often giving them physical solidity. Rose was perhaps the worst, a single word from her whispered into your ear and you had no choice but to do as she said, even your body would listen to her words without your brain so much as thinking about it, she was also quite a miraculous fighter. As Aryn got to his feet the vixen rushed at him, luckily he'd always been a much greater fighter, and as she threw her first punch Aryn quickly ducked the blow...unfortunately this had always been the vixen's tactic. She spun behind him grasping him about his ribs with her muzzle resting next to his ear...

"You can't move..." She whispered quickly.

Aryn should have known, but as her words sank into his skull Aryn's muscles tightened up making his entire body freeze in place like some sort of statue. His limbs began to shake violently as he tried desperately to bring himself out of her control, he'd known better than to let his guard down around Rose, she had a habit of using her power against others to take the fairness out of a fist fight. Black Star's program had left all of it's participants with abilities that categorized on some sort of psychic level. As Aryn stood there the rage buildt in his eyes which brought a hint of fear to the vixen's eyes, the last thing any of them wanted was for Aryn to give them a taste of the power the project had left him with, especially not in an environment like this. Unfortunately as they all looked on, the fox's arm lurched out and took the vixen by the throat. Aryn's face contorted into a hideous snarl as he bared his teeth at the vixen. She could feel his ability building as the paw about her neck began to heat up at exponential rate. Rose could feel the vulpine's heart rate racing fueling his power until there was a sound, like throwing a match on something covered in gasoline, and as she looked at Aryn's free paw which he rose to the vixen's face, her eyes widened as his arm from elbow down was engulfed in dancing bright red and orange flames. It was as Aryn looked to Fox that he noticed something about the vulpine's eyes, they were familiar somehow...

"Drake...now." Fox said looking to the drogan to his side.

As the reptile moved forward Aryn could feel the air about his body loosing it's humidity, no not loosing it but, rather it was condensation and gathering onto his fur in small beads of water which very rapidly began to freeze. He attempted to finish the vixen in his grasp off, but as he did so the flames died down and vanished back into his arm. Seemingly all at once he could feel the chill of ice encasing his legs, it rapidly began to climb until it was up to his crotch. He quickly dropped Rose from his grip and began to pound away at the ice that crept up his body knocking large chunks away at a time. As the ice reached his chest it finally stopped and to his dismay a small sphere of ice began to form a few feet from his face, which instantly took the form of a long sharp shard...

"No..." Fox grabbed the dragon's wrist causing the shard to fall to the ground shattering into a million tiny pieces, "No...not yet, he hasn't learned anything yet."

Fox moved closer to Aryn studying him and his current situation, "I imagine hypothermia must be a bitch. Then again; _where are we if not but within winter's cold embrace?_" Aryn's eyes widened and met Fox's, that quote was from 'No More Sorrow' one of Aryn's favorite books, "You know the truth don't you? Look into my eyes, you can see it clearly."

Aryn knew those eyes, they were as Krystal said not the eyes of Fox McCloud...and as the hate filled sneer on Aryn's face grew into an enraged snarl, despite his numb body, he lurched out with a blood thirsty roar at the fox's face, grasping maddeningly at the air about Fox's face, his eyes full of tears...

"There you go...you understand now don't you?" Fox said with a smile receiving no reply. Fox's paw quickly locked a tight grip around Aryn's neck, "I should kill you right now..." Fox said stopping with a smile, "but, where would be the fun in that?" He asked letting go of Aryn's neck, "Now that Raven is with us we can finally get started. Seems our guest wants to give us the cold shoulder, so let's just leave him to his problems, we have bigger matters to attend."

**000**

After being left there like that Aryn had finally began to loose consciousness, but as the sun rose to high noon he could feel the sun's heat on his face, a powerful desert heat. The heat had never really bothered him in any way but, his old team mates knew his weakness was the cold, if his body heat dropped to far he could not generate a combustion rate without seriously overdoing it. As he felt his stable mind slipping away he was left with no other choice, he grit his teeth and concentrated forcing all of his strength outward causing the ice to crack and finally shatter as a short burst of flames shot out all around his body, setting fire to a nearby building. It was as he staggered out of town that Aryn discovered that all of the small place's inhabitants had left, and to his unlucky happening his bike was gone. His only hopes as he began to walk toward the small town far off in the distance beyond the horizon, he kept his arms folded about his chest rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to make the numbness and cold feeling stop. His body was shaking violently, but at least he was in the best kind of place for someone with his ability to adsorb and produce heat...a desert...

It was hours later that Krystal decided to leave the ship again wiping her tears away from her eyes, she had forced herself to stop crying and realized that she needed to go back in hopes of finding Fox...but as she neared the edge of the city she could see a black form collapsed at the desert's edge, several large vulture's picking it hungrily. As she made her way over to the curious figure the birds scattered back into the air once again circling over their hopeful meal. It was as she rolled him onto his back that Krystal, began to walk away and leave him there, until she could hear his voice barely escape his exhausted lips...

"Not......McCloud......"

At that Krystal rushed to Aryn's side trying her hardest to get more information but, the black vulpine had already lost consciousness...

* * *

**A/N: Okay that posed a lot more questions than answers...but I wanted to get the psychic powers out of the way so now you all know that Aryn is a Pyrokinetic and his entire team had developed powers of the like because of the experiments from Black Star. Anyhow the story should start to pick up now that most of the plot is out of the way for the time being. There will be a lot of hell to pay in further chapter I can assure you...R&R and thanks for the constant and ongoing support...my next update should actually be on Chains of Fate, I'm going to try to alterate from this to it chapter to chapter, that way they both get done I hope...Anyway thanks again and all you readers out there are awsome...**

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox**  
**


	10. Chapter 9:Eyes of the Beholder

Recomonded music of the day

I don't care

By Apocalyptica ft: Three Days Grace

**Chapter 9**

(July 18th)

(8:23am)

Aryn sat up in an unfamiliar bed, he had no clue where he was, he was dressed in a hospital robe and his head was pounding away as though there was a parade inside his skull. As he rubbed the side of his head his vision cleared...he was in a hospital, a small, simple room with a TV attached to the wall in front of him with what looked like some sort of comedy turned on. He reached to his chest to remove the small nodes that went to the irritating beep of the heart monitor next to his bed but, decided against it as it would most likely cause a hell of a commotion. There was a lunch tray situated on the normal small table that lay across the patient's waist a foot or so off of the bed, the tray that sat on it was picked clean. What remained was a small scrap of white meat hanging from what looked like a chicken bone...

"Food here ain't half bad..." Krystal's voice said from a seat by the window, where he found the blue vixen finishing off a small white bowel of Jello, "Chicken was a little overcooked though." She growled a bit to herself as s small blob of the stuff fell from her spoon onto the red shirt she wore, and wiped it away before sucking it off her finger, "Jello was pretty good though. It's funny no matter how bad the food is they always get the Jello right."

"Where are we?"

Krystal set the empty bowel down on the tray, "Hearter Medical Colony...other side of Nexus."

* * *

**Nexus is Zarr's second moon it has 3

* * *

**Aryn turned his gaze to the window only to see a small blue orb of a planet floating in the distance, "What happened?"

"Don't know...I found you at the edge of the desert mumbling something about Fox and then you passed out. You woke up for a few seconds a few hours ago, but, I seriously doubt you were really conscious."

"In any case thanks...I hate hospital food."

Soon a red feathered avian in a long blue coat with a white undershirt and blue pants came into the room, his bright green eyes staring at a clipboard through a small set of squared glasses, "Ah. So you are awake." He said walking to Aryn's side and checking his vitals, "Mr. Stromwell, I am Doctor Wilde. Do you know why you are here?"

"Let me guess. Hypothermia..." The black fox replied.

"Well at least most of your memory is in tact. Can you tell me your friend's name?"

"Fraid my only friend can't be here."

"Well then. The lovely young lady that brought you in..." The doctor said.

Aryn looked to Krystal, "Kursed..." He hesitantly mumbled not knowing which name she'd used.

"Very good. No she tells me that the two of you were after a bounty on Zarr. Care to explain to me how you developed Hypothermia in the middle of a desert?"

Aryn looked a bit irritated, "Magic." He replied, the doctor not realizing how close he was to telling the truth.

"Well...if you choose to keep it to yourself there's nothing I can do about that?" The doctor said standing up, "Well Mr. Stromwell, seems your vitals are checking out...quite a miraculous recovery for someone found in your condition but nonetheless your only problem now is that you seem to be running a slight fever. At least I think it's a fever...your body heat seems to be peaked at 102.5 degrees...average vulpine body heat should only be about 92.5. Not a serious increase but, still...you may want to watch yourself over the next few weeks. After suffering such a shock as hypothermia your immune system could momentarily have trouble fighting off laden diseases."

* * *

**Fun fact: Your average red fox or _Vulpes vulpes _has a minimum body heat index of 92.5 degrees Fahrenheit or 32.5 degrees Celsius. Weird what kinda crap you remember form biology huh? ^_^**

* * *

"Yeah whatever...when can I leave?" Aryn asked in an irritated tone.

The doctor placed a wing on the impatient vulpine's shoulder, "We will process you out shortly. You seem to have more than enough energy to get you back to your ship." The avian said turning off the heart monitor before leaving the room.

There was something in the avian's eyes when he last looked at the fox almost as if, "Yo...Aryn. I feel kinda......funny." The blue vixen said staggering a bit as she stood up.

Aryn quickly picked up the bowel of she'd been eating from and sniffed it, there was a smell of orange as that was the flavor of Jello in the bowel but, there was a slight hint of something else, "Fuck!" He almost shouted, "I thought that bastard looked familiar."

Aryn quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed Krystal before she could fall, "Hey com on stay awake." He demanded shaking her violently.

Krystal seemed to be having a hard time keeping her eyes open, "W-what's......going on?" She asked half out of her wits.

"You've been drugged...probably a sedative. Come on you gotta stay awake. We have to get the fuck out of here before that fucking parrot comes back."

As it was proving hard to get through to her Aryn slapped her across the face hoping the shock would wake her up, unfortunately she just grinned at him stupidly...

"I so didn't...feel that." Krystal giggled idiotically.

"Shit!" Aryn growled as he realized that Krystal had passed out.

Aryn lay her on the bed he was recently in before heading to the door and cracking it open a small bit; there were animals all over the hall, doctors of all kinds walked back and forth on their rounds, while there was a receptionist at a desk several yards down the hall. As a black feline looking over a clipboard passed Aryn let out a short whistle...

"Hey doc you gotta help me my friend past out in here and hit her head pretty hard." He said trying his hardest to sound worried.

"Really?" The cat asked walking quite quickly into the room and rushing to the vixen's side. For a moment he checked her up and down for injuries then pulled her eye lid open flashing a small light into her eye, "Her pupils are responding. I think she's only unconscious, but, I'm not sure..." The doctor cut himself off as he heard the door's lock click to the locked position.

After a moment Aryn stepped out of the room and as soon as he could find one he rushed back to the room with a wheelchair for Krystal. Aryn felt a bit ridiculous in the doctor's get up...he honestly couldn't see how the cat was able to stand it, the thing itched like crazy, but for the most part he was not noticed...being dressed the way he was with the vixen seemingly injured and in a wheelchair they didn't even stop for a moment to check Aryn for a name tag. Luckily at the end of the hall Aryn wheeled his drugged partner into an elevator. Normally the docking bay in places like this are always on the bottom floor, Aryn pressed the required button for the desired floor. Unfortunately, as he got off he found that the docking bay was swarmed with personnel, especially one familiar doctor who was at the moment speaking with a receptionist at the entrance. Animals on gurneys were being carted out of the docking bay, into a large service elevator clearly meant to be a quick transport to the ER Aryn could care less however as he could clearly see his ship stationed at the end of the docking bay. As the red feathered avian seemed to finish talking to the receptionist he turned right into the waiting grasp of Aryn's strong black paw which seemed to constrict his vocal cords...

"Hello Professor Wilde...I remember you now. Too bad for you." He said, the receptionist began to scream but Aryn cut her off, "One peep and he dies....then you."

The white rabbit behind the desk simply swallowed before nodding slowly...

"Give my partner something that'll wake her up. The opposite of whatever you tried to poison me with." Aryn demanded loosening his grip a bit so that Wilde could speak.

"Claire..." He managed to say though in a slightly strained voice, "Get the young lady a shot of Epinephrine 15ccs should wake her right up."

Aryn had gathered some attention being in his present situation with his claws digging into the doctor's neck...

"Listen Drayvn...you're making a big mistake."

"Wrong...you made the mistake as soon as you took the job overlooking the Black Star project."

"Why do you think I'm a doctor working out here in the middle of nowhere...I'm trying to leave that life behind." The avian said clearly trying to bid for his life.

"Really? Then why try to poison me?"

"It wasn't poison...Black Star wants you back alive. For the general's death."

"He got what he deserved...just like everyone else that had something to do with Emm's death...and the others are all in line too."

"So you're going to kill all of them are you?" Wilde asked, "What about Eric?"

"Already dead...he was the second one to pay for what was done. What do you know about McCloud's disappearance?"

The avian smiled, "He's in the company of old friends."

A few moments after the shot was administered to Krystal her light blue eyes fluttered open, "Wha-what happened? Why am I in a wheelchair?"

"The doctor here was going to turn us in." Aryn answered squeezing the avian's neck a bit, "Well me at least...probably would have killed you...or worse. You were going to use her for the project weren't you? Just more of that Cerinian DNA you like to fuck with so much."

Aryn looked to Krystal who was still shaking off the effects of the drugs, "You alright?"

"I'll be fine..."

"Good then go get the ship ready...If I'm not there in 5 take off without me."

Krystal stood up and walked a short ways ahead, "Whatever you say." She said quickly turning around and swinging her foot into the avian's crotch from behind causing him to cry out in pain, "That's for drugging me you son of a bitch!" She growled walking toward the ship with her paw on the side of her head.

"Ouch..." Aryn said still holding the doctor by the neck, "For all of you guards...first one that makes a move toward her or me causes this man to die."

"Everyone..." Wilde said through the throbbing pain in his gut and groin, "Do as he says. Get rid of your weapons."

There weren't many guards but, the ones that were there were well armed, all with a powerful automatic weapon some of which were plasma fed. As soon as Krystal was aboard the ship Aryn turned the avian to face that direction and dug his claws into the back of the doctor's skull. Aryn stopped for a moment after positioning himself behind the terrified doctor...

"You know more about my ability than anyone..." The fox whispered in the avian's ear, "Move one inch that I don't approve of and I'll roast your skull like a fucking pork chop."

"I know how much heat you can produce Aryn you don't need to tell me what you're capable of."

As Aryn finally approached his ship and stood at the entrance to the large ship's bay doors he reached inside still with the avian's head in his grasp, and produced a small cylindrical device. Which he then held up in front of the bird's face...

"You know what this is?" Aryn asked.

"Do I look like a bomb technician?" The bird replied smartly.

"Fine..." Aryn replied, "This is a Vc22 thermal implosion module...fairly easy to disarm." he said pushing the avian away from him, "Have fun." He said twisting the timer on the device to 5 minutes and tossing it into the arms of the red avian before climbing aboard his ship and closing the bay door...the ship making a hasty exit from the space station.

Krystal met Aryn in the docking bay, "You wanna tell me what this was all about? And why you just left a bomb in a hospital?"

Aryn held up a paw, "Okay first off...shut up. And second even I'm not completely heartless...bomb's a fake. I'm not about to kill thousands of innocent animals just to kill one doctor that I can easily come back for." Aryn sighed on his way out the door, "And I'll explain the rest as soon as we're somewhere safe for the night. NAV upload emergency procedure X-4..."

"Running program X-4. Rerouting CHSA mainframe, clearance will be granted in 5.364 minutes."

"Good..." Aryn said looking over his shoulder, "You wanted to know about Black Star? It seems like it's something you have to know now...because I'm sure they have lover boy held hostage. Meet me in the kitchen in about 20 minutes, you may wanna get changed and get some food, some of this you're going to have a hard time with."

Aryn made his way off out of the docking bay and into his room, his first bit of business to take a shower as well as get on something other than the feline doctor's coat and pants. He was unusually calm for someone that had come close to being turned in for something that would have had him shot on sight...he stopped fearing death a long time ago. He was happy to feel a shower after being frozen by that freak that that fox in the desert called Drake. He'd never seen Psychokinesis before but, he now realized that he didn't like it too much. As the hot water rushed through his fur and hair he leaned his head back against the stream of water...

"So...the project is still up and running. I have nothing against this Drake but, apparently he's added himself to the list. Still......" He said to himself thinking back to Fox's eyes, "I think I have bigger problems now."

Krystal followed Aryn's suggestion as her head was still pounding and thanks to the shot she was given her heart rate was quite rapid. A cold shower quickly calmed her rapid heart beat and her breathing to it's normal state. As she let the cool water wash over her, she began to rub her fur down with a fine smelling shampoo to wash away the smell of the sweat and sand from Zarr. She was still beyond angry with Aryn for what he said back on Zarr, but, for the most part she once again owed him her life. When she finally felt clean, Krystal walked out of the shower choosing to blow dry her fur instead of using a towel, something she used to do all the time but recently had found no time for, then again she really had no reason to making her fur extra soft anymore. She slid into a new pair of underwear and jeans before replacing her old shirt with a black tank top and finally headed to the kitchen where she hoped she'd be able to get something to eat that wasn't tainted...

**000**

Aryn had changed into a pair of black jeans and a light gray muscle shirt before heading toward the kitchen, he really didn't want to give Krystal any of the information that he was about to...but the more he thought about it the less of a real choice he had. He was also thinking a bit about what he'd said to Krystal back on Zarr...she really hadn't done anything to deserve hearing something like that. The look in her eyes at the moment she had heard those words reminded him of the first and only time he'd ever actually managed to hurt Emilia's feelings. Maybe that was why he had such a hard time with Krystal, she reminded him so much of her that most of the time he couldn't stop thinking about Emilia. As he walked into the eerily silent kitchen he found that Krystal had just finished eating, Aryn made sure to make himself something as well before taking a seat across from her. As he sat there chewing his food Krystal began to say something but was cut off as the black vulpine held up a paw...

"First off..."

Krystal sighed, "Shut up right?"

"No..." Aryn replied, "I'm.......I'm sorry. For what I said to you back on Zarr, nobody deserves to hear something like that. I'm just not used to being around people anymore...it unnerves me. I'm not used to having to trust anyone. You'll see why by the time you hear everything."

"Alright..." Krystal said clearly accepting the apology, "But don't you dare EVER say anything like that to me again."

"Agreed..." Aryn said taking a few bites of his food, "Now. Black Star. It was the name of the military unit that Emm and I were members of...it was an underground project, bio-genetics engineering. We were all promised the opportunity to become the greatest soldiers of all time, and being a military man, I was quick to accept. General Pepper was in charge of the whole thing, initially there were five of us; Myself, Emilia, a vixen named Rose, Raven the avian from Zarr, and a wolf named Mashif. The project dealt with something they called the C strand, which they eventually told us was a genetic structure from your people...aka: the Cerinian gene. Apparently there was another Cerinian discovered a while before you were saved by McCloud. After learning about the traits of your people the military got it's paws on a sample of her blood and DNA, they instantly started working on how to administer your people's traits onto others by mapping her DNA onto other people's genes. We were the first successful tests..." As Aryn said this he held up his paw which burst into bright red and orange flames once again making Krystal's mouth hang open in awe, "You can touch it if you want. It's not hot unless I want it to be."

Krystal placed her paw slowly into the flames that jutted out above the vulpine's paw, "I haven't seen a Bright Paw in years. They were all over Cerinia."

The flames withdrew into Aryn's body and he continued eating, "Doctor Wilde was the researcher that was the figurehead of the whole project, he was the one that claimed he could attach the Cerinian gene to other people's DNA. He explained my ability to me as I was the first to develop. Apparently the gene attached itself directly to my Hypothalamus..." He said tapping the side of his head, "Like the body's thermostat. This gave me the ability to alter heat waves around my body to the rate at which I could cause combustion...as well as the ability to make the flames do just about anything I wanted..."

"What about the others?"

"I was getting to that..." Aryn replied, "Mashif was the second to develop. His higher brain waves became so powerful that he could release it as what everyone calls Telekinesis and Telepathy. Then Emilia, her thought process became exponentially more significant than even the most powerful super computer, found herself able to absorb and retain information better than anyone in history, which helped her already significant knack with computers. Rose was after her, she retained a rather odd ability that the doctors called mental seduction...as long as it was whispered into your ear, you have no choice but to do exactly as she says...even if she were to tell you that you can't move, your brain would believe her, and finally Raven developed his power...and that was when the scientists started talking, his power didn't seem to rely on Psychics at all...he was able to animate shadows, give them physical body and shape, the only mental part of the ability was that he controlled them with his mind. The fact that he had developed a power that borderline more on magic than psychics, made the scientists start thinking about applying the gene directly to different parts of the brain and body to see what it's outcome would be...a lot of animals ended up dying from it."

"We were all set to the same team, it's purpose was to do missions that the council had not knowledge of. Missions that required us to do things outside of the law...illegal things. We killed senators and covered it up, we wiped out resistances without batting an eye, and then after endless missions. They disbanded the team, by this time Emm and I had been dating and planning to get married for a few months. After so long, we of course got married and moved to Katina where we decided we wanted nothing more to do with Black Star or the military..." Aryn smiled, "She seemed really dead set on being a mother..."

Aryn seemed to freeze up for a moment before letting out a deep sigh, "Then one day I come home, a few weeks after finding out she was pregnant and found her lying there on our bedroom floor dying. There was so much blood that I really didn't know what to do...she still had enough strength to tell me that it was people from Black Star that did it...and to tell me that she loved me one last time before the blood loss finally killed her. I was so distraught that I didn't even notice the cops that entered the room...at least I thought they were cops. As soon as they had me cuffed and out the door I was unconscious one of 'em hit me with something. When I woke up, I was cold and alone and chained to the wall of a small cell. I lost count of the time that I was in there, for the first year I scratched a notch a day in the stone walls, but after the first year I gave up counting. I'm not sure why they wanted to keep me alive but, they were just trying to sweep me under the rug. Then one day, the Aparoids attacked and thanks to those ugly mother fuckers, I was able to escape. Aryn Stromwell was an old friend of mine that died when he was still pretty young...he had no family or anything like that so I thought nobody would notice if I used his name, Drayvn Dark needed to disappear for a while...so I went to the only person that I could trust......my brother Eric. We floated around for quite a while, and after so long I heard about the General's supposed death at the hands of the Aparoids..."

"What do you mean supposed?" Krystal asked, "General Pepper died four days after the attack."

"Really? Truth is that he pulled through...and the military was in a hurry to get him somewhere where they hoped I'd never find him. Unfortunately they misjudged just how much Emm taught me about gathering information, I found him...got my information on the ones that kill my Emm...and killed him for setting it up..."

Krystal wanted to say something against it but, she could sense that everything he was telling her was the truth, instead she simply sat there and listened...

"After reading the information I found out that the one person that I thought I could trust was in on the whole thing...my brother had taken part in killing her. Apparently he had been a part of another project, he was a mole, what the military referred to as a Ghost Unit. There was no way I could kill him, not in any kind of a fair fight anyway. So I bide my time training still daily, but not matter how many times we sparred he was...just better than me. One day when he went on one of his assignments that turned out to be a hit on some sort of senator or something, I didn't care to gather any info, I followed him, my main training in the military being stealth and espionage, even he couldn't tell that I was there. We were on a water tower when he supposed to take his shot, I stabbed him twice with his own sword before he fell off of the tower, not that he didn't put up a fight. I didn't bother to check the body, I was in a hurry to leave, and I was certain he was dead. Unfortunately after I took his ship, I never managed to find the other members of Black Star...apparently they heard that I had escaped from the general's little prison and was searching for them. And over the years I've been searching for them. This case had their handy work written all over it so, naturally I came to see what I could get from it, and that's where I met you..."

"Wait...you know something about Fox that you aren't telling me..."

"yeah...when they attacked me in the desert on Zarr after you ran off...I got a good look at your ex's eyes...and they weren't McCloud's......they were my brother's..."

* * *

**A/N:Woot...chapter 9. Srry bout that, too much caffeine today. Anyhow I got most of the plot out of the way and can start with the mass amounts of ass kicking soon...hahaha. I love fight scenes...Anyhow, plenty of fighting for furture chapters as I'm sure any that have read my fics can imagine. Thanks for the support R&R and I'll Cya all next chapter...**

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox**  
**


	11. Chapter 10:Fear has 8 legs

**Chapter 10**

(July 18th)

(12:36am)

Krystal was taken aback by what she'd heard, what was Aryn trying to say by telling her that Fox had his brother's eyes? It really didn't make any sense to her at all.

"Wait a second..." Krystal said, "What do you mean Fox has your brother's eyes?"

"Well..." Aryn replied, "I know those eyes from anywhere...and I can tell you without a doubt that those are Eric's eyes...not to mention he told me something that only me, Emm, and my brother knew had any significance to me. _Where are we if not but within winter's cold embrace?_" My favorite line from my favorite book. I watched Emilia die in my arms...and the memories of that moment drove me to killing my own brother...or at least I thought he was dead. What other explanation is there...that wasn't Fox at all, it was Eric."

"What are you going to do then?" Krystal asked, "You can't possibly expect to beat that many with that kind of power."

"Maybe you're right..." Aryn replied, "but, I can take as many with me as I can...as long as my brother pays it won't matter one way or another to me. All the sooner I get to he Emm again."

As Aryn stood up and headed out of the room he was stopped by Krystal's voice, "You know what's so sad about all of this?"

Aryn didn't answer...

"It's seeing someone that has given up on living so easily."

Aryn lowered his head with a deep sigh, "Easy enough...when you have nothing left to live for." He said in a low voice before leaving the room in silence.

It took Krystal some time yet to filter through all of the things that she'd heard, no wonder why Aryn had so much trouble trusting her, his own brother and friends killed his wife and unborn child...she couldn't say she'd have had a different reaction. He had a right to be the way he was, everyone he'd ever trusted had at some point turned on him, even his own brother. When they'd first met Krystal had taken him for no more than a selfish asshole that only cared about himself, but it was more painfully obvious now that he cared nothing at all for himself he only seemed to care about making the people that killed Emilia pay for what they'd done...for the first time in a long while she could honestly say that she felt sorry for someone, this gave her the idea of telling him the truth about his chess buddy but, at this moment it would most likely do more harm than good, the last thing Aryn really needed right now was to know that someone else had been lying to him. Krystal found herself in her room soon, with nothing to do but to go about their normal nightly routine of playing their games of chess while Aryn remained blissfully unaware of just how close by his only friend really was. After about their tenth game Krystal and Aryn bode each other a fond farewell and soon the blue vixen found herself trying her hardest to get some sort of sleep through the night but, with the thoughts about Aryn's past running though her head it was hard to get any rest at all. How could one soul be fated to so much suffering with no positive signs of the future? With a heavy sigh Krystal lay her head against her pillow and slowly drifted off to a light sleep...

Aryn was well awake before Krystal the next morning as it often happened...when she joined him on the bridge the black vulpine was going over something on the computer's main screen, a list of places that all seemed like they might be leads to him. It was as she stood there sipping at a cup of hot coffee that she couldn't help but ask...

"Anything?"

"Hmm...No not yet. We may have to wait this out and wait for them to make another move."

"But there's no telling when that'll happen." Krystal replied.

Aryn turned toward the blue vixen, "Look I didn't say it was the best idea but we may be stuck with it until we can find something else out. If you have a better idea then let me know but if not shut the hell up and let me think."

"If you were Eric where would you go?" Krystal asked.

"That's the problem...Eric always hid his intentions, I never really knew him, just the person he pretended to be..." Aryn replied turning back toward the screen in front of him, "What we need to find out is his motive...what's driving him...and most of all what he's up to. Why would he be bringing my old outfit back together and what dose McCloud have to do with any of this?" As Aryn thought to himself he did remember back to the fight, "There was something different about that whole fight though...almost like they were all......weaker somehow."

"What do you mean?" Krystal asked.

"I'm not sure...." Aryn replied, "Just give me some time and we'll see what else I can think up. Keep your eye on the news and let me know if anything unusual shows up."

Krsytal started to leave before she was stricken with an idea, "Wait a second. Where is the old base you all used to work out of?"

"Half destroyed on the far side of Corneria...I've checked several times there's nothing there."

"Take me there." Krystal quickly demanded.

"Why?" Aryn asked.

"Let's just say there's more to telepathy than you may think...just get me there......fast."

"First tell me what the hell you're fucking talking about." Aryn demanded.

Krystal sighed with frustration, "Look Slippy called it Photopathic Empethy. Basically I can see the past through things that I touch..."

Aryn thought to himself for a moment, "Well...I got nothing better to go on. Let's go. I just hope you're not blowing a load of steam up my ass."

Krystal was surprised at how quickly Aryn had gone with her side on this...but then again she did have the only good idea at the moment. Soon enough the ship was on a path for Corneria...unfortunately, at their current distance from the place the trip could take some serious time. It was after he had set the course to Corneria that Aryn walked into the ship's kitchen and sat down across from Krystal with a rather large sandwich. After a bit of time Krystal noticed that Aryn was studying her harshly...

"What?" She half yelled.

"How dose that power of yours work?" He asked, "You just touch it and see where it's been, and what's happened around it?"

"That's about the most of it why?"

For a moment Aryn wasn't sure that Krystal was telling him the truth, "Hmm..." He hummed to himself sliding something across the the table which she stopped under her paw, "Who was the last person to hold this?"

Krystal moved her paw to see a pair of familiar dog tags with the name Emilia Jones on them, "I'm just guessing but...Emilia?"

"No...I found them on the other side of the room that night."

Krystal took a moment before she closed her eyes as soon as she opened them the blue was washed over with white, the images that Krystal saw flashed by at an incredible rate, she saw flashes of rooms full of scientists and glass equipment, countless scenes of dead animals, several more images flashed by of the entire team that Aryn had described, broader images of the time after the team was dissolved it seemed like every image that she saw at that time was Emilia and Aryn together, the images kept flashing through her head until one last image hung in place of Aryn holding a bleeding vixen laying in a corner. The worst part of all of it was the fact that this ability allowed her to tap into the emotions that were present at the moment she was seeing. As Krystal finally opened her eyes again she tossed the tags to the table and wiped a stream of tears from her eyes. Aryn didn't need her to say anything to know that she wasn't lying about the power, he simply scooped up the dog tags from the table leaving the blue vixen alone in the kitchen. Krystal sighed before heading out of the room herself, she had no idea what she'd do to occupy her time after all it would be a three day flight. As she sat in her room the images she'd seen from the dog tags flashed back through her head several times and there was one word that stood out PRODEUS. Her faith in Peppy slightly shaken after all that she'd seen, Krystal looked to her laptop, there really was only one animal that she could trust to find this kind of information for her...

After punching in a familiar com channel Krystal was surprised to receive the image of an unfamiliar green amphibian, she was a bit taller than Slippy would be and had much deeper green eyes, "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Yes.." Krystal replied, "At least I hope. I'm one of Slippy's old team mates...you must be Amanda."

"Oh...you must be Krystal. Hang on I'll go get Slippy."

It was only a minute or so before the short toad came into Krystal's view, "Hey. How are you? They let you of the hospital?"

"I've been better." The mechanic replied, "They let me out of the hospital yesterday. It's funny really...I always thought my dad would end up in a wheelchair before me."

"Listen...I don't expect you to understand but, Fox isn't the one that attacked you."

Slippy looked to the floor, "I know. I kept thinking that something was wrong. He was gone for so long and then suddenly came back acting like nothing had ever happened. I guess I was just happy to have him back."

"Slip...If you want to see Fox again I need your help with something. I went to Peppy with the problem....but...I don't know it feels like he's hiding something from me."

Slippy smiled, "What'cha need?"

"Information." Krystal replied with a smile she always knew she could trust Slippy, "Find anything that you can on something called The Black Star Project...and also run the name PRODEUS on as many searches as you can."

Slippy pulled out a small pen and began to scribble on a notepad, "Black...star....Prodeus. Got it. I'll get back to you with all I can find a-sap...it was good talking to you again Krystal. I've heard some pretty bad stuff about you floating around."

Krystal looked away, "You don't......believe any of that...do you?"

"Of course not. Even Faclo knows better than to believe that horse shit." Slippy turned away from the screen for a moment, "Look Krystal I gotta go...good luck...and try not to hurt Fox too much when you find him."

Krystal chuckled, "No promises Slip. Bye."

For the rest of the day Krystal found herself unable to find anything more to do, which eventually forced her to fall back onto retiring to the training room...a place where she felt she hadn't spent enough time. After hours of training Krystal headed back to her room and took a hot shower to relax her sore muscles as well as scald the smell of sweat from her fur. She always dressed in the bathroom on Aryn's ship...she didn't suspect him to be a peeping tom or anything, just for some reason the whole place still made her feel unsettled at most times like someone was watching her. The entire ship gave off the feel not matter where she was, it was....creepy. The problem was that now the feeling was constant, when she entered her room something grabbed her arm slamming her into the wall, she started to scream before Aryn's paw rushed to her muzzle as as he quickly put his index finger against his lips. Despite her being topless at this point, Krystal noticed that Aryn's eyes were looking about the roof of the room...

"You hear that?" He asked softly.

Krystal then ignored her partial nudity, "Hear what?" Suddenly there was a rapid tapping sound on the metal of the ship, almost in audible, Aryn released her muzzle and allowed her to get her shirt on, "I heard it that time what is it?"

"judging from the way it's been moving around...I'd say it's a Genic."

"A what?" Krystal asked.

"Ugly little fucks from Varsac Prime. Kinda like a large mutant tarantula. Assassins use em all the time...hide em on your ship. Once they pick out prey they stick to their guns. Until you kill it or it kills you."

"Are they poisonous?"

"Very...If you were bit I'd give you about twenty minutes before you kicked." Aryn replied, "Just get some sleep...I'll wait right here just in case. I hate spiders."

"Wait a second..." Krystal laughed as she noticed Aryn scratching his arm, "Are you Arachnophobic?"

Aryn glared at Krystal thrusting a finger at her, "You shut the fuck up!" He half yelled, "I am seriously uncomfortable with spiders. So fucking ugly."

Krystal though hesitant not only for the thing stalking her but, the fact that Aryn was sitting in the corner of her room while she slept. She really didn't trust men all that much anymore...especially not assholes, then again he had his reasons for the way he was. Oddly enough she found herself asleep within the hour, she was certain that Aryn was just being paranoid about the spider thing and that he'd be gone before she woke up. For Aryn the time passed far too slowly, Emilia often made fun of him for his fear of spiders, he couldn't explain what it was about them, everything about spiders seemed to make him feel incredibly uncomfortable, thinking about it litterally made his skin crawl. Unlike the blue vixen that lay there in bed Aryn had no problem at all staying awake, he was tired of the constant flashbacks. The longer he sat there the more he began to pass off his conclusion as paranoia. That was until he could hear it again, it was much lighter this time, almost as if the steps were taken was careful grace not to wake the sleeping prey lying in her bed. He'd come across these things before, they were often rather dark in color, a darker brown or gray, unlike your common tarantula, their bodies were much larger, spanning several feet long and coming to about two to three feet off the ground, also rather than a set of fangs these alien arachnids developed a full mouth and a set of rather advanced eyes rather than a set of eye beady little ones that normal spiders had. For a moment Aryn closed his eyes to try wiping the thoughts of his eight legged nemesis from his mind but, unfortunately as he opened his eyes he saw the monstrous insect crawling, nearly hovering just above the sleeping vixen. Aryn was nearly petrified just by the sight of the ugly thing...

As the thing reared back it's head for the only bite it would need Aryn managed to snap himself out of his stupor...

"Krystal!!!"

At the sound of his yell the thing instantly shot around it's large black eyes now fixed on the clear intruder. It let out an incredibly horrible screeching sound before leaping at the black fox with and incredible capability practically flying at Aryn's face. Aryn closed his eyes as he realized that his legs refused to move, but nothing hit him. He opened his eyes and to his horror the thing was mere inches from his face, biting frantically at the air trying it's hardest to break the telekinetic force that held it in place, Krystal had woken up and managed to stop the creature as it flew at Aryn's face. Aryn's expression changed from that of fear to total and complete rage. The ball of flames that shot from his palm slammed into the massive creature's face dragging it from Krystal's mental grip and into the far wall where it hit the floor wailing horribly as the flames enveloped it completely...unfortunately that wasn't enough. As Krystal noticed Aryn's arms coated in sheaths of bright flames he flung his right paw forward with his palm open causing a large ball of flames to fly from his palm. This ball of fire struck the creature causing it's body to burst into a horribly messy green slop that splattered onto the walls as well as Krystal's bed, the smell of cooking spider nearly caused Krystal to empty her stomach. Aryn, looked to the destroyed body of the arachnid, the only remaining signs of his powers the light billow of smoke rising from his fists...he shuddered a bit at the thought of the thing...

"Well...I'm not getting any sleep tonight." He said.

"I don't think I will either...I don't like the idea of there being more than one of those around here." Krystal added looking about the room suspiciously.

"I think I need a drink and something to take my mind off of all this..." Aryn said turning toward the door, "You play chess?"

Krystal smiled at the fact that he had no idea who he was actually talking to, "I dabble..." She replied before following him out of the room, "But how did that thing get on this ship?"

"I don't know......" Aryn replied, "I'm just glad it's dead. We can worry about how later, right now I just want to forget I ever saw the damned thing."

* * *

**A/N: Yay a new chapter. This one was a bit though for me to write...mainly because I am Arachnophobic and just thinking about a spider that big made my fucking skin crawl *shudders* GOD I HATE SPIDERS! Anyhow the story's about to do some serious picking up on this one. Plenty of action and maybe some sort of romance somewhere. Well my brain hurts so I'm gonna take a nap and try to write something on COF...hopefully.**

**Those *happy in the pants* footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox  
**


	12. Chapter 11:Home Sweet Home

**Chapter 11**

(July 19th)

(1:11am)

Hours passed and neither Krystal nor Aryn could find it in themselves to get any sort of sleep...every time Aryn closed his eyes he saw that god forsaken creature again, those beady eyes and horrible sound that it made. He was amazed at how good Krystal actually was at chess, their games had gone on and on ending oddly only by stalemate. Aryn closely studied her movements, every move was carefully thought out and seemed to perfectly counter his...if he didn't know any better he'd have sworn they'd played before. Aryn sat there with a large cup of tea studying his next move and finally made his own resulting in another stalemate. It all seemed familiar to him somehow, then again the only games he played anymore all seemed to end this way so he really found nothing too odd about it...

"Where did you learn how to play?" Aryn asked as they set up the board again.

Krystal took a sip from her own cup of tea before making the first move, "Fox...taught me when the Great Fox's engines went out over Sauria a long time ago."

Aryn thought for a moment, "Hmm...I might want to play him after we save his ass."

"Wouldn't do you any good...I'm better than he is now." Krystal said making a move that took one of Aryn's knights, "You know...you aren't that hard to talk to when you're playing this game."

"It's the only way I feel at peace anymore...as soon as the game starts it's the only thing on my mind." Aryn replied, "I always tried to beat Emm but, that was like trying to ice skate uphill...completely pointless."

Krystal felt a bit sorry for the dark vulpine, it seemed everything that he remembered seemed to remind him of her. She even wished that there was a way to take his mind off of his past, but, it seemed like the board in front of them was the only possible way of doing that. Their games carried on through the night until eventually they decided that combing over the ship for more of those damned spiders might not be a bad idea. Aryn had told Krystal to simply clean up the mess in her room since he couldn't stand to be anywhere near the thing, he felt a bit more comfortable killing them rather than touching them. It was only after hours of searching the ship that Aryn finally flopped down in his seat on the ship's bridge...he was now however thinking of other things. He had long ago realized something that was bothering him somewhat. Krystal however was in a different state of mind, it was early morning and she still hadn't gotten any sleep...and now that she was covered in the green, sticky remains of the huge arachnid, a shower didn't seem like that bad of an idea at all. It took everything she had not to fall asleep against the soothing hot water that rushed over her body. She didn't even bother getting dressed any further than her underwear before heading to her bed now that the creature's corpse was gone she could hopefully get some sleep, after Aryn's search for any more of them came up dry she had no trouble in falling to sleep shortly after laying her head on her pillow.

* * *

(July 20th)

(5:09am)

It had only seemed like moments that Krystal was asleep before she woke but, as she looked to the clock next to her bed she noticed that it was indeed the next morning, she'd slept all throughout the day and night. She was slow in getting dressed as she realized how early in the morning it really was, she wasn't sure whether or not Aryn was even awake. She slid on a white tank top and a pair of light blue sweatpants that perfectly matched the color of her fur, and headed out to the kitchen for something warm to drink. After getting a cup of coffee Krystal headed to the bridge where she surprisingly heard the sound of a light snore escaping the dark furred fox, who's constant loss of sleep finally caused him to pass out in his chair; his arms hung limply over the sides and his head was laid back against the head rest of the chair his mouth hanging open slightly. The whole sight caused Krystal to smile a bit, she'd found Fox in the same position before, asleep in his captain's chair, for some reason she had a hard time picturing Aryn in that sort of position. For a time she simply sat by looking at the bright rainbow of colors that danced around the ship that came with traveling at the speed of light. A bored sigh escaped her she hadn't expected to wake up so early...then again she hadn't expected to sleep until the morning of the next day either but, she was incredibly tired. As Krystal sat there sipping her coffee, the ship suddenly jolted as it broke from hyperspace splashing her face and causing her to spill the hot liquid down her front...

"SON OF A BITCH THAT"S HOT!!!" She screamed pulling her tank top away from her skin.

This noise instantly shot Aryn from his sleep where his sword was instantly pulled from it's sheath, but it was put away as soon as he saw Krystal. He didn't really say anything as he looked to the viewing window before him seeing a blue planet hovering below them...

"We're here." He said stretching his arms over his head causing his back to pop, "Get changed and meet me in the docking bay."

Krystal made her way into her room, it made her a bit glad that Aryn had left the room so quickly as a wet shirt, especially a white one had a nasty tendency to becoming quite transparent. Of course had she decided to wear a bra that most likely wouldn't have mattered to her. She was hardly dressed for any kind of mission going anywhere at the moment they had reached the planet in the first place; but now that she was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a white muscle shirt, and her favorite denim vest, she quickly assembled her weaponry before finally leaving the room. It was as she rushed down the halls of the large ominously quiet ship that she caught the smell that rose from the spot on her chest where she'd spilled her coffee...she could think of a lot worse smells to be stuck with all day. As she made it to the bridge Krystal wasn't surprised to find the impatient black fox was already aboard his modified wolfen going through standard take-off procedures. Krystal then made her way to her arwing and after prepping it's drives and engines Aryn's wolfen shot out of the docking bay, Krystal following shortly behind. She noticed that Aryn's wolfen was deceptively fast for a wolfen, where Star Wolf's wolfen's downfall was that their speed and maneuverability was slim in comparison to that of an arwing this one seemed as though it would have no problem moving right alongside and arwing at any speed...he must have done some serious modifications to the ship, and she was only guessing that because of this he most likely scaled down the wolfen's usually superior firepower. As the two ships tore into the planet's atmosphere a com channel opened to Krystal's command console...a button press bringing up Aryn's face on a small green screen...

"Try not to wander off when we reach, Star Labs..." He quickly said, "They could keep patrols out there."

"Where is this place?" Krystal asked, "We're a long way from Corneria City."

"Downtown Tybeck...why else do you think they haven't destroyed it yet?" Aryn asked, "Alright we've broken through the atmosphere...the dock is on the west side of the city. D hanger is always empty. Keep your wits about you...I don't wanna have to save your tail again."

Krystal smiled, "Yeah...right. You mean save it or just stare at it."

"Bah...whatever..." Aryn retorted cutting the line, Krystal smiled at least she'd found a way to shut him up.

Krystal was amazed at the city's appearance, it was like Corneria City but, drab and neglected in a horrible way, she'd only been there once before. Fox had taken her there to pick up some sort of package for Peppy a long time ago...but even then it wasn't this bad. The buildings were horribly vandalized, there were missing windows and graffiti everywhere, there was a strong stench that blew in from the streets the mixture of rotting garbage and death clung to the air as if it were the city's natural oder. Krystal was appalled by the sight and smell of the place, how could such a place exist on the same planet as a place as beautiful as Corneria City? It was as her nose recoiled at a rather strong whiff of the city's foul fragrance that the blue vixen pinched her nose shut...

"You get used to the smell..." Aryn said placing a paw on her shoulder as he walked by.

Krystal could only tell that Aryn had no longing of being in this place, she could only imagine what kind of memories that it brought back. Nonetheless however, the two began to walk into the barren streets of the ghost city, it was only after a short time that Krystal was forced to stop, the smell had gone from disturbing to absolutely repulsive, she could clearly smell the stench of rotting corpses...the smell soon caused her to brace herself against a wall as her stomach violently emptied itself.

"I..._urk_...I need a minute." She said between vomiting and trying to catch her breath.

Aryn doubled back and took a seat on the edge of the sidewalk resting his sword between his legs so that it leaned against his shoulder...

"Sorry..." Krystal said sitting next to him, "I never could handle that smell. What the hell happened here?"

Aryn sighed, "After the Aparoids attacked...they refused to rebuild, in hopes that everyone would abandon the city...you know keep wandering eyes from Star Labs. Unfortunately a load of gangs found this place and migrated here from other cities, apparently they decided having an entire city to themselves wasn't half a bad idea. Over the years more and more gangs moved in...the weekends are the worst...I'm surprised we got here on a burning day."

"Burning day?" Krystal replied cocking her head to the side.

"One day a week all of the different gangs gather the bodies from all the fighting and burn them in the city square. That's why the smell's so strong right now. They send recruiting parties into the cities once in a great while anymore to restock their numbers...just more dead to throw on the fire for later I guess." Aryn finished standing up, "You ready?"

"Yeah...I think I'll be okay from here on."

"Good...the Lab is just down the street about another mile."

As they made their way down the street Krystal looked at the environment rather disgusted, "So...how long was your team here?"

"After the experiment. Not very often...we were on missions about every other day."

Krystal was a bit happy that he seemed to have gotten used to having her around, if she'd have asked any kind of question before chance are that he'd have made a smart ass remark and simply walked off...but, now he was actually walking at her pace rather than his own. He didn't seem to have any more hatred in his voice when he spoke to her rather, it was just a naturally harsh tone of sorts, maybe he'd finally realized that she wasn't all that bad having around...or maybe they had somehow bonded or something during their chess game, whatever the cause he was listening to her now and for the most part he was answering what questions she did bother to ask. Their walk was rather long...it felt to Krystal like it was a bit more than a mile or so, but, soon Aryn grabbed her arm and ducked into a dark, disgustingly foul smelling alley only to see several animals run by screaming at one another before several other animals rushed after them with large automatic weapons...

"Hmm..." Aryn hummed to himself, "Must be a gang war. Take a rest while I check the roofs."

Aryn made his way up a half dilapidated fire escape and after a few moments he was back down to the ground level where he leaned against a wall in thought...

"Well?" Krystal asked.

"Three marksmen guarding the place. We should wait here for a bit and see what happens." Aryn replied, "It shouldn't take too long for them to back off...the reds usually do these things fast."

For a time the two simply sat by, Aryn refused to move from his spot hidden in the shadows while Krystal had found a half destroyed trash can to sit on. The silence was only randomly broken by a far off gunshot here and there...most likely from the group that had run by earlier when Aryn and Krystal had ducked into the alley...

"So..." Aryn said surprisingly starting a conversation, "When were you planning to tell me?"

Krystal looked shocked, "Tell you what?"

"That game last night. It wasn't the first time we've played..." Aryn pointed out, "Was it......Foxy1?"

"Sorry for not saying anything earlier. I thought you'd be angry or something..."

Aryn sighed, "The only person I've been able to call a friend for over 5 years...and you thought I'd be angry to find out that she's on my ship, where we could actually play a real game instead of using that god forsaken computer."

"Well...you didn't exactly roll out the welcome wagon when I came aboard." Krystal answered looking away.

"Like I said before...I'm not used to having other people around. Sorry..."

Krystal sighed, "Ah...forget it. With everything you've been through I don't blame you for pushing others away. I'd probably do the same thing." She said, "Just do me a favor and lay off a little huh?"

Aryn scoffed a bit with a slight grin, "I can promise to try....but, no promises."

Krystal laughed a bit at the rather useless joke, "Whatever...lets just get what we came for and get out of here this smell is making me sick again."

The nearest building to the two was a large apartment complex, the two vulpine managed to slip in through a window without being noticed by the guards that passed by. Aryn was a bit confused however, how is it these animals knew that he and Krystal were coming? He had no answer to the question but, as he and the cerulean Cerinian made their way through the dank, dark halls of the empty apartment building Aryn brought Krystal to a halt. It wasn't until Aryn pushed the doors of an old elevator open that Krystal realized that they were already there. The elevator seemed to be so old that it was barely being held up, but after stepping inside with Aryn, the black fox pulled back an old panel on the wall pressing a hidden button that caused the thing to silently begin to move...

"The apartments above were used as housing for the majority of the scientists...our team was almost never allowed to leave the facility below, " Aryn started, "The lab is about a mile underground, it can house up to 150,000 staff members and house over 50,000 itself. There are two entrances to the place. This is the main entrance...or at least it was. When the Aparoids attacked I was held in confinement after being framed for Emilia's death. One of the ugly fucks busted the door down to the cell. I managed to get to one of the dead guards guns and kill it before it could kill me. Most of this place should be pretty fucked up...keep an eye out though. You never know if any of those dumbass gang fuckers got down here."

After a bit of time the lights in the elevator flickered off, and the moving box jolted to a stop.

"Well it took us further than I thought it would." Aryn said forcing the doors open, finding that the door to the lab was just visible enough to lay down and squeeze through.

After forcing the next doors open Krystal lay on her back and slid herself through the small opening flipping forward onto her feet as he body exited the elevator. She silently mouthed the word 'wow' as she looked at the surroundings; most of the walls were an off white color and looked as thought they were made of some sort of metal, most of the doors were clearly once made of glass, there were loose wires hanging from the ceilings, missing panels from the roof that lay on the floor, the windows to most of the rooms were scattered in millions of tiny pieces all about the place and here and there there were the unmistakable remains of what must have once bee scientists now nothing more than skeletal remains. Aryn suddenly slid from the lift with a fluid motion landing beside her...

"Home sweet home..." He half whispered before stalking off into the dark halls, "Keep your guard up. Never know what the fuck's lurking around down here."

The halls were ominously dark, at times Krystal could see nothing of the black fox in front of her if not only for the lighter gray shirt he wore. After so long Krystal heard the sound of something suddenly bursting into flames as Aryn held up his now flaming fist which cast a welcome light on the area around them...she noticed that Aryn's eyes donned a familiar blue glow when activating his power. The dark furred Pyrokinetic made his way through the halls making stops here and there as if he were looking for some sort of specific room. Krystal on the other hand kept her blaster ready for anything as she realized that it was remarkably cold which caused her to get nearer to flame fisted vulpine in front of her, finding that it did provide at least some sort of heat. Their trek through the halls were filled with the sound of crackling glass beneath their boots. After so long Aryn stopped Krystal when they'd neared a large metal door...

"This is it...Sector-15 lab. The lead doctor's name here was Legal Prodeus." Aryn said as he ran his paw over the surface of the door, "He worked directly above Wilde overlooking all the work and making sure nobody fucked up too badly."

"Prodeus?" Krystal asked herself, "When I touched Emilia's tags...I saw that name a few times."

"Hmm...Prodeus wasn't in charge of Emilia...I wonder." Aryn said lowering his head.

"Wonder? Wonder what?"

Aryn shook his head, "Nothing let's just go..."

As the door was opened a foul oder even more powerful than the one outside rushed by Krystal's face, causing her to turn away from the door almost immediately. The room here was clearly a lab, there were broken containers and beakers everywhere, all kinds of scientific equipment the likes of which the blue vixen had only seen in the presence of Slippy's lab on the Great Fox. Against the far wall of the room Aryn ran his paw over the surface of a well preserved glass tank more than large enough to hold a full grown animal, as Krystal looked around she noticed that there were five of the large glass structures. It was as Krystal approached Aryn that she noticed a small plate with imprinted words on it positioned on the tank's door. The following words were printed on it...

_Black Star Candidate 2/5_

_Emilia T. Jones_

_Codename: Citrinitas _

_Id: 174-2-5_

Without giving notice Krystal reached out and lay her paw on the large tube and as Aryn turned to her he noticed that her eyes had coted over with white, she was well into the process of viewing everything that had happened in that room over the past years. By the time she woke, she would be able to tell him anything he needed to know that he didn't already...the problem now was waiting...but to Krystal the past played over behind her eyes as if she had been there through everything...

* * *

**A/N: Well the writer's block isn't completely gone but, I managed to shoo it away long enough to write out this chapter. Some questions will be answered but, unfortunately it will create more than it will answer. Eric's plans will soon be revealed and eventually this story will come to an end of some kind...I think. Anyhow...R&R and Hope you had fun reading this ch as much as I did writing it. I'll try to put up another chapter soon...but...well we'll see. C'ya... ^_^**

**The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox  
**


	13. Chapter 12:On the Run

**Chapter 12**

(July 20th)

(11:09am)

Aryn was forced to wait by until Krystal was done with the tank, as she kept delving into the object's past Aryn moved around the room looking over the tanks one by one, it was funny he hadn't noticed before but, only three of them were listed with code names: Emilia was codenamed Citrinitas, Raven was Albedo, and Aryn's was Rubedo. He kept the names in his mind somewhere but, turned his attention back to the entranced blue vixen who still stood prone with her paw against the glass of the container that once held Emilia...

* * *

**(Flashback)**

_As Krystal looked on she took on the scope of someone that had recently touched the container, it was clearly Emilia who she assumed was inside at the point in time that she was watching. As she watched on Krystal noticed a familiar red feathered avian, though he looked much younger and was wearing a white lab coat with a small symbol of star with a B in it's center. The avian took his time as Krystal followed him with her eyes, he moved to one of the containers which held a familiar black fox, though Krystal quickly turned away after realizing that these specimens were nude behind the glass. The room before here appeared as it had years ago, there were working mainframes and computers all about the room, most of the lab equipment was all intact with a verity of different scientists hard at work. The scarlet avian moved from one tank to another jotting down notes as he read a small meter next to each different tank, finally stopping in front of Emilia's tank. He smiled a bit after reading the meter next to the tank, which at a closer veiw Krystal was able to tell was reading the vixen's brain waves. Suddenly another doctor entered the room, this one was a rather tall ape, Krystal's eyes instantly focused on the name tag he wore...it was Prodeus..._

"_So is everything going well?" The ape asked tapping on the glass before looking to Wilde._

"_Yes sir doctor." The avian replied handing his clipboard to the doctor, "This one like Dark has developed abnormally fast."_

_Prodeus went over the paperwork in front of him, "Hmmm...Very interesting." As he said this Wilde left the area, "I am almost there...once I have the four, immortality will be mine. Still there is much work to be done."_

_The doctor soon left the room, leaving Krystal to her own thoughts...did the doctor have his own reasons for creating the project? It seemed like it. The days that Krystal seemed to spend took what seemed like an eternity, what she would only say could have been days passed before Wilde returned...it was at this point that Krystal noticed that the tanks were being emptied, Aryn's was already empty. Soon enough Krystal watched as a white vixen staggered out of the tank she still occupied before she was covered with a blanket and led out of the room, being asked a series of questions. Oddly enough the acts that went on in the room did not stop, several more animal went into the glass tubes in a matter of time that Krystal found impossible to keep track of. And after so long she saw a very familiar face enter the room, general Pepper entered the room when Prodeus was going over some of the newer people's tests..._

"_Prodeus...we're canceling the project."_

"_What!?" The doctor shouted turning to the General, "You can't do this to me!! Look at the progress we've made!!"_

"_Progress or no. After trying to introduce your experiments back into society one Drayvn Dark murdered one of your other experiments...these people with their level of power cannot be trusted to function in civilized society without call to abusing the power you've given them. You have 6 months to shut all of this down before our men clear it out.. You are to burn every file and wipe every mainframe of all elements of the project...Nothing that has happened down here ever transpired. Any leak of information will result in military action against the ones who talked and any who were given the information." Pepper said walking out of the room, "You're a brilliant scientist....and I apologize but, the council cannot be allowed to find that this project was under my command. I want all files and samples destroyed. Leave the remaining experiments to me...I have ways of getting rid of them."_

_After a short time the doctor kicked a table sending glass vials flying through the air shattering against the floor and wall, before he approached the tube supposedly looking Krystal in the face, "Don't worry Eric......nothing will happen to you. My crowning achievement."_

**(End Flashback)

* * *

**Aryn quickly made his way to Krystal's side as he realized that she'd finally let go of the tank in front of her before falling to her knees breathing heavily and sweating a bit...

"How......l-long?" She asked attempting to catch her breath.

"About two hours...you find anything good? Any answers?"

"Yeah...some...but more questions too."

"Good then let's get the hell outta here. I don't like the sounds that have been coming from the elevator shaft we came through."

The two waited until Krystal caught her breath before rushing thought the facility's endless halls, unfortunately before they got far Krystal was jarred to one side being yanked into an empty room by Aryn who pinned her to a wall holding her muzzle shut...

"Don't say a word...there are guards around the corner."

Krystal was till winded and Aryn could only tell...

"Just stay put...I'll come back."

Before she could say anything he was gone, Krystal didn't like this place at all, because of the darkness mixed with the color of the fox's fur she couldn't even tell when he was gone. The only clue that something was wrong was when she heard the first scream from down the hall, at first when all of the voices went silent Krystal wasn't sure what had happened before she felt a familiar breath hit the side of her face. It was amazing how quickly and quietly he could move...soon enough Krystal found herself moving at a quick pace down the halls before the floor beneath her lost it's friction with her feet tossing her to her back. She could tell by the smell and feel that she was lying in a large pool of blood as her paw had landed on what felt like a severed torso. Aryn didn't bother with anything else, he quickly helped the blood soaked vixen to her feet and rushed down the halls again. Krystal found it hard to keep up but, didn't bother complaining as judging by the amount of blood on the floor there were quite a number of soldiers now. Soon enough there was a sound of footsteps behind them quite a ways down the hall. Suddenly a blaster shot tore into the wall near Aryn's head sending sparks flying into the air, for a moment giving Krystal a view of the vulpine's blood covered face.

Before too long every other step they took was followed by a blaster bolt either missing them altogether or slamming into the walls near them. Suddenly Aryn ducked into a small room and pulled Krystal close...

"Hold your breath." He whispered.

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Krystal took a deep breath and before she knew what had happened Aryn took her and leaped into what she could only guess was some sort of tunnel as they fell for some ways before hitting a steady stream of water. Krystal instantly rushed to the surface for air only to be met by a foul smell much more horrible than that outside on the city streets...

"My god what the hell is this!?!" She practically screamed as the strong current pulled the two along the tunnel.

"Sewage line! Sorry but it was the only way out!"

"You're gonna pay for this Aryn!" Krystal yelled as the two were swept along the line.

At the entrance of the place the small group of soldiers stopped, none daring enough to jump in after them. One pulled out a small radio...

"Sir we have a problem. The target escaped into the city's sewage system...they could be anywhere."

"Listen to me O'donnell. I gave you the chance at the Cerinian to get Drayvn back here alive and one sample of her blood. I don't want any excuses, I gave you a squad of my best men so get your ass down there and find them!!!"

The lupine sighed as he turned off his radio, "You heard the man men...get your asses in the hole!!! Remember Don't kill the black one or we don't get paid. As for the blue one......she's mine."

Krystal was happy to be out of that stink hole when Aryn finally pulled her out of the water, they were in the catacombs under the city for no more than a minute or so before they found their way to the streets by way of a manhole. They wasted not time rushing thought the streets toward the hanger that housed their fighters. Aryn hesitated as they rushed into the hanger as he noticed four soldiers that were standing by his wolfen, Krystal however had had enough. Before she was able to get a reaction out of Aryn he noticed her charging the animals not with her blaster but, with her spear drawn and fully extended. The first animal to acknowledge her rapidly approaching footsteps was met by the flying point of the spear which lodged itself into his chest, the animal's finger instantly locked around the trigger of the automatic weapon he held causing it to spray out a few rounds before he fell completely to the ground. The others turned and assaulted the blue vixen with a hail of bullets and blaster shots but, they all seemed to bound off of what seemed like an unseen wall before her. Krystal slid out in front of one of the soldiers sweeping his legs out from under him and reaching for her spear tearing it free of the first animal's chest before spinning and bringing it down on the other animal's neck, the bladed tip slicing through completely and burying itself in the stone beneath them. Before the next animal could muster a reaction he found the point of the spear had been plowed into his gut, Krystal now holding the far end of the shaft gave the weapon a light twist causing the impaled wolf to let out a shrill howl before Aryn noticed a small flash of red light scale from Krystal's paw up the shaft of the weapon. The impact of it was more than he'd have ever imagined, the animal at the end of the weapon was blown completely in half showering the nearby wolfen and vixen in a torrent of crimson rain, the bolt of red energy that traveled up the spear escaped through the tip in the form of a small ball of flames that burst against the last creature's face, his head instantly erupted leaving only his fountaining neck at the end of his shoulders...

"Remind me never to piss you off." Aryn said patting Krystal's shoulder as he walked by, "Now lets get the fuck outta here!"

Before long the two were aboard Aryn's ship, as Aryn rushed down the halls he felt the ship shake a bit as it's shields were hit...

"NAV! Get us the fuck outta here now! Take us to Sauria and get ready to land! I know these fucks are gonna follow us!"

Another shot hit the ship nearly throwing the dark fox off his feet, "Warning! Shields at 63 percent and dropping!" NAV's voice sounded.

"Ignore the shields! Just get us into Hyperspace now!!"

"Access denied. Rerouting primary CHSA protocol mainframe...access granted. Warp jump commencing in 5...4...3...2...1."

With the countdown finalized the ship shot forward vanishing into hyperspace, luckily they'd be safe for whatever amount of time they were in hyperspace. It was after they were in the safety of hyperspace that Aryn slouched down into his captain's seat...

"Please tell me they didn't track us." He pleaded with a sigh.

"Our signal was not isolated in proper time...our pursuers will will have hyperspace clearance in four minutes."

"FUCK!!!" Aryn shouted, "Krystal...you alright back there?"

A moment later Krystal's voice sounded back over the PA system, "I'm fine...I'm just taking a shower and getting all of this blood out of my fucking fur."

"Well don't get too comfortable...We're headed for Sauria...best place I know of to hide." Aryn replied, "Looks like those shots we took caused some problems too. I'm gonna need your help with some repairs."

Aryn hated the idea of running...but then again he knew it was only a matter of time before they came looking for him again. As he sat back in his chair he let out a long sigh while shaking his head, he hadn't expected things to get this out of hand...but, at least he knew he wouldn't be another boring mission. He found himself soon in the ship's docking bay where he found himself deep in the process of repairing the ship's engines two of them had been reasonably damaged. Unfortunately the repairs would only go so far at this point, his mind was jumbled and he found little time to concentrate. The two man crew did what they could to repair the ship, managing to fix what was needed to land on Sauria, but that would be a bit more than a day's travel. Luckily soon the two found themselves in the kitchen eating a well deserved supper as well as taking a well earned rest it was then that Krystal decided to tell Aryn what she'd seen and spent some time explaining everything to him...

"I wonder what Prodeus meant by...immortality?" Aryn wondered as Krystal informed him of what she'd heard the doctor say.

"Also...Emilia wasn't the last one to go into that capsule..." Krystal finished, "It was...your brother."

"I figured he'd gone through the same experiment." Aryn replied, "But trying to understand why at the moment is completely useless. Lets just try to get some rest before we arrive at Sauria." he said walking to the door, "Those bastards are gonna be hot on our tails, and they already have a lock on us so at this point runnings a bit of a moot point altogether."

"Then why Sauria?" Krystal asked.

"No civilizations...no back up. Just us and them. So make sure you're ready for a fight tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N: ^_^ ran out of useless crap to say^_^**

**Anyhow thanks for the support, R&R and I'll see ya next chapter...**

** The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox  
**


	14. Chapter 13:Revenge

**A/N: Well I usually do this after the chapter but meh. Like I said this is mainly a filler chapter between parts, but at least it's a nice break with some action. BTW you have been warned there is a bit of pain near the end...^_^

* * *

**

**Chapter 13**

(July 21st)

(5:06am)

The shock of the Dragoon entering Sauria's atmosphere shook the Krystal from her sleep, she sighed rather deeply as she got dressed in her old uniform; her form fitting blue jumpsuit who's color was broken here and there by black accents, then layering over it small blue plates of armor. On covered her breasts and most of her chest, another smaller set covered her shoulders,one against her back, and a much smaller one against her abs. The boots that went to the uniform were build in with their own armor and she retrieved her helmet which was equipped with a small black blast visor...she hadn't worn Kursed's outfit in a long time. Her last steps were to make certain that she had her weapons on her, all of them; two small knives in her boots, three blasters one on her thigh two hidden in small panels on her armor, and of course her spear. Krystal made her way into the kitchen where she, to no surprise, found Aryn sitting there. He now wore a long coat, black and without sleeves, the shirt underneath was also the same color as his fur, as were the jeans he wore, she was certain that if he removed the coat you wouldn't be able to even notice the rest of the clothes. There was a small breakfast set up with a hot cup of coffee seated across from the dark vulpine that was busy eating...

"You may want to eat, this is gonna be one hell of a day."

"Thanks..." Krystal said sitting down.

After a short while of sitting and eating NAV informed the two that they had completely landed on Sauria's surface. Aryn sighed before nodding to Krystal who returned the gesture, he didn't know how to explain it but there was a strange but, familiar smell about the air that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He managed to push the rather pleasant smell aside so that he could concentrate on the task at hand...he didn't feel like doing the calculations to find out how much time their jump had bought them to find some sort of place to make this a fair enough fight. As they stepped out into the open air of Sauria Krystal and Aryn were drenched by a heavy rainfall. Aryn shook the rain off of his fur for a moment, for what little good it did him, before pulling his wrist communicator to his muzzle...

"NAV...activate cloaking mask." He said lightly.

At his words the large ship behind them seemed to dematerialized right before their eyes, it was illegal technology but, Krystal seriously doubted that Aryn really gave a crap. As she looked about she could tell that they were in Thorntail Hollow, or what was left of it, the trees were cut down, the old well was devastated and even the old hag's store in the middle of the hollow had been destroyed...

"What happened here?" Krystal asked herself.

"A general named Scales came through here a few years ago...tore everything apart looking for someone. I was unfortunate enough to be here when he came through."

"I thought Scales was dead. Fox was sure that he was dead."

"Did you see the body?" Aryn asked scouting about the area.

"No."

"Emilia always said that assumption is the mother of all fuck ups. Come on this way." Aryn said leading her off toward the Lightfoot Village.

"Why are we headed toward Cape Claw?" Krystal asked running behind him.

"More space to hide...we want to take them by surprise." Aryn replied, "Gang members are one thing. But, trained mercenaries are another. We may have our paws full here. They aren't like those morons back on Xenass these ones have guns and know a lot about using them."

The rains seemed to be accompanied by short flashes of lightning and the near deafening roar of rolling thunder; the smell wet grass and sand filled the air as a chilling wind tore through the land. Not much time passed before the two foxes found themselves in the forest that was the entrance to Lightfoot Village. As they rushed through the lush green forest they were happy enough to see that the place was still unchanged, but that wasn't Aryn's intention, he kept moving on through the gates to the village, the gate that would have once protected the Lightfoot was now destroyed, and only a few of their little two story hut's which were held out over the waters of the swamp my large stilt like poles were remaining. Krystal could only guess that this was also the work of the general. After a bit of time Aryn led Krystal to a large tree and signaled for her to start climbing. Krystal found that being in the top of the tree reminded her of when she spent time in the trees on Cerinia, and at least the tree itself gave her time to shake the water from her fur.. After a short while she realized why he had pulled into the Village and hid. Apparently the group after them managed to get clearance much faster than Aryn had expected, they had landed in Cape Claw after a short time of being in the tree Krystal could see several figures. One however, caught her attention as a well timed flash of lightning highlighted a familiar gray furred face left eye was replaced with a small red spot withing a metal fixture, the fur of tail as well as that on the back of her neck fared out angrily as she bared her teeth at him from the hidden distance...

"I KNOW YOU TWO ARE HERE!!!" Wolf shouted out above the rain and thunder.

"How?" Aryn asked himself.

"I'M SURE YOU NOTICED BY NOW THAT THAT BITCH WITH YOU IS IN HEAT!!! I CAN SMELL HER A FUCKING MILE AWAY!!!"

It was only then that Aryn looked to Krystal who lay her ears flat against the top of her head that he realized what the smell was that he'd ignored back on the ship, "Don't worry about it..." He said with a light sigh, this was going to be a bit more difficult than he though, "Isn't there a way to cover the smell?"

"It doesn't work like that Aryn." Krystal replied feeling a bit at fault.

"It's not your fault...we'll just have to find a way around this. I know the rain has to be fucking with his sense of smell at least a little, otherwise he'd already know we're up here." It was as Aryn sat there and Wolf's small party searched the area that the dark furred fox developed an impish grin, "Say...how good are you at running?"

After a bit of searching the gray lupine noticed something in the air, the enticing smell of Krystal's sent had shifted...his canine nose twitched against the air a few times before he called the small four man group back to him. Her scent was not coming from the village anymore, rather it was wafting in from the forest they had left behind. As Wolf rushed out into the open he shot his head to one side as a blaster shot tore into his right ear, after the initial attack, the blue furred assailant rushed off into the woods, toward Cape Claw, soon having the four rushing after her. She made certain that Wolf couldn't loose her sent by fanning her tail about as she ran...unfortunately being obsessed with the blue wonder that ran from him, Wolf had lost all thought of Aryn. Soon as they rushed through the woods something shot from the darkness dragging the black cat at the rear of the group into a nearby bush a short blade in the paws of a black fox driven through the animal's skull. As Aryn pulled his blade free another of the small group rushed over but, before he could say or do anything blood shot from his throat from an almost unseen move that sprayed Aryn's face with a fountain of blood as the ape dropped his weapon grasping at his throat with both paws. "Get the fuck outta my way!" Aryn said sternly pushing the animal to the ground to allow him to bleed to death as he rushed back off following after his distraction.

Krystal was still a little unsure about Aryn's plan, using her as a distraction while he took out the ones that lagged behind, but she had no better ideas and to her liking his plan left Wolf all to her. As she rushed forward she took a quick glance over her shoulder noticing that there were only three animals behind her which meant that Aryn's plan was obviously working.. Wolf had no idea what the blue vixen was doing heading toward Cape Claw but, he had no complaints, as he and his remaining team rushed into the well that separated the forest from Cape Claw. Wolf and his me froze as they saw Krystal leap up onto the wooden rail of one of the planks about the inside walls of the large hole in the ground taking a massive leap from one side to the other, her leap nearly missed but she crashed through the rail of the far plank and rolled into the far stone wall of the well before shaking it off and rushing up the ladder that led to the beach. Her pursuers were forced to go around taking a ladder down onto a lower planking then up another to the spot that led out of the well. Wolf was the first to get to the top exiting the well but as the second that followed behind him had just reached the latter when he noticed an odd sound like a piece of cloth flapping in the wind. The last thing the animal saw was the form of a black fox soaring across the gap much the same way Krystal had with a long sword drawn high over his head.

Wolf had exited the well and headed down toward the beach, the rain had picked up substantially but, fortunately he could still smell the vixen that he pursued so haplessly. A smile washed over his face as he noticed that vixen for whatever reason had stopped running, staring at him with murderous intent as he cleared a corner. They were standing on a stone walkway just in front of the large Ocean Force Point temple, he had to admit that she was much faster than he was but, he also had her outnumbered...or at least he used to. As the wolf turned around the only thing behind him was a black furred fox holding up the severed head of one of the last two animals that he'd killed. Aryn looked to the head, then to Wolf shaking his head as he tossed the severed lump out into the water...

"Looks like you should have been concentrating on more important matters." The black fox smiled.

The gray lupine looked to Aryn's bloody sword with a hint of worry...

"Oh don't you worry about me. I'm sure she wants you all to herself..." Aryn said looking past the wolf, "Isn't that right Krystal?" He asked putting his sword away.

To Wolf's surprise as he turned to face Krystal she slowly removed her weapons one by one dropping them to the ground, he had no idea how long she'd waited for this...after everything that he and his team had done to her it was finally time for the pay back that she'd wanted so badly for all of these years. As he watched on the blue vixen removed the panels of her armor dropping them next to her weaponry before taking a familiar looking fighting stance. Wolf quickly turned to Aryn who gave him a rather discerning look...

"All of yours too...I see a weapon and I'll kill you myself."

Wolf turned back toward Krystal dropping his blaster, a knife from his boot, a pistol from under his denim jacket, and another blade from under his coat behind his back. Before he could realized that the fight had started the blue animal shot forward with a burst of speed unlike anything he'd ever seen, of course it was nothing compared to the speed Aryn was known to move at but, impressive nonetheless. Wolf's upper body folded forward causing him to let out a silent scream as Krystal's knee was driven into his gut forcing the air from his lungs, he'd never felt anything so painful in his entire life, even Fox had never hit him with so much force. The stunned wolf had no time to retaliate against the attack as the blue fox broke into a rapid spin swiping his legs from under him before driving her fist into his gut sending him several feet into the air where, upon his decent, Krystal leaped into a back flip slamming both of her feet into the animal's face sending him spiraling into the air where he landed in the mud a few feet away from Aryn, who had to admit that he found the spectacle rather entertaining, he had no idea that Krystal was such a gifted fighter. As the blue vixen approached Wolf who still lay there attempting to catch his breath, the Wolf's breathing suddenly became normal before he drove his boot into the blue vixen's stomach causing nearly the same reaction that her first attack had in him. Wolf leaped from his paws and knees position driving his fist into the fox's chin sending her sprawling to the stone, the wet ground causing her to slide several feet away. As Krystal attempted to get up from her paws and knees, her lupine opponent's boot forced her onto her back with a rather powerful kick to her ribs that instantly sucked the air from her lungs. The next kick he delivered to her side caused the vixen to cough up a large spot of red that washed into her white muzzle against the rain. To Wolf's surprise however Krystal still refused to go down and began to get to her knees, Wolf approached her and taking a paw full of her long, blue, muddy hair dew back his fist, but before he could do anything Krystal's fist struck him between the legs with ever ounce of force in her body, standing as she did so flipping the wolf into the air landing him on his back. In mid flight Wolf let out a pain filled howl that sent chills down Aryn's spine. Krystal took a moment to take a few deep breaths but, as she noticed Wolf was attempting to crawl away she rushed forward dropping to her back while driving both feet into the side of the wolf's head. The impact forced his limp body to spin through the mud until he finally came to a stop more than a yard away. Krystal took a step forward but found that the fight had exhausted her, Aryn managed to catch her before she collapsed to her knees...

"Is he...dead?" Krystal asked trying to catch her breath.

"No..." Aryn replied noticing that the wolf's chest still rose and fell at a steady rate, "...he's just unconscious."

"Good...I haven't heard him scream yet." Krystal replied as Aryn helped her to her feet.

Wolf groaned heavily as he finally opened his eyes to a blurry and spinning world that was entirely upside down. As his vision cleared his concussion let him know that he'd more than lost the battle, he was about to loose the war as well. A familiar blue face sat nearby studying his face. I was only as he fully came to that he realized that his feet were bound and he was hanging upside down from a tree, and his arms were equally bound. As he struggled for a second something dripped onto his nose...syrup? He then looked up, or down to him, only to notice that he was bare ass naked while hanging there with his...genitals covered in something...

"Syrup? Huh...kinky." Wolf smiled.

"Not for me Wolf..." Krystal said pointing her pinky finger toward the ground below his head, "For them."

Wolf angled his head toward the ground only to notice a large round spot of red that seemed to be moving about on the sand...

"Lava Ants. I was fortunate enough to find them here when the rain stopped last night." Krystal said, "You know...what you and the others did to me, it's nothing new. Even on Cerinia we had lowlifes like you. You even want to guess what the punishment was for a rapist on Cerinia?"

"I suck at guessing games." Wolf smiled.

"Good cuz I can guarantee you won't be smiling for much longer." Krystal replied, "On Cerinia, if you were found guilty of rape...it was all removed. In the worst possible way, however the chief thought would cause the man the most pain. Unluckily for you my mother was the village chief, and she came up with something that nearly eliminated the problem altogether. When she found someone had done such a thing, he was hung in the square in the same manner you are for the entire village to see. See, Lava Ants are attracted to anything that smells sweet, unfortunately they also happen to be flesh eaters. If you look down you'll notice them gathering under you...that's because they can smell the syrup...and right now that sweet smell is driving them nuts."

Wolf's expression went from cocky to worried, "Flesh......eaters?"

"That's right..." Krystal said tying a small length of rope to the ones that bound his wrists together before dropping the end into the pile of small red insects below him, "Try not to pass out form the pain. I'd really rather hear you scream." As she said this Wolf began to struggle attempting to knock off the small red insects that began to flood over the rope and onto his arms, "Won't do you any good O'donnell. The only way to get them off is to kill hem, little claws on the bottoms of their feet keep them from falling off."

"You're sick..." The wolf said as he finally stopped struggling.

"Of course I am...I learned from the best..." She replied pointing to Wolf, "No shut the fuck up and start screaming."

Wolf tried his hardest not to, but soon his screams were heard all throughout the forest. Aryn sat by reading over some papers that he'd found on Wolf's ship. As the ants began stripping away his flesh Wolf's screams grew louder and louder until his voice completely gave, it was the worst sort of pain anyone could ever imagine. Krystal's expression didn't change for one second, she had told Aryn that she wanted to hear the wolf scream and she was going to sit on the small boulder that was her seat until she found she grew tired of hearing it...

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**A/N: So I'm happy I got out of my little writer's block funk. So thanks for reading chapter 13 "Revenge"...aka; Best served with syrup. Sorry that was a horrible joke. Anyhow thanks for supporting and R&R. **

**PS: No real animals were actually eaten alive in the making of this chapter...**

The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox


	15. Chapter 14: Knowing Fear

**Chapter 14**

(July 21st)

(4:08pm)

As the night began to roll in and the storm passed, Aryn had decided that it would be a good idea to get off of the planet as soon as possible...of course not before making a copy of all of the information on the wolf's ship and making certain no one would ever see the thing again sending it into orbit after setting the engines to overload on themselves. Krystal was oddly quiet and withdrawn, she clearly had a lot of things on her mind...she hadn't said a word since sh had gotten to watch Wolf die. Aryn had wanted them to find a safe place to stay while they sorted through their newest information they had claimed from Wolf's ship...he only knew of one place other than Sauria that was just as safe for someone that wanted to disappear for a day or two. Vox was one of Titania's moons, nobody was really stupid enough to go there; the environment was nothing but sharp, jagged rock formations and arid plains as far as the eye could see. It was a rather desolate place but, Aryn had lived out there for a short time. The worst part of the entire planet was the atmosphere, it was always hot, he didn't mind the head however as long as he didn't have to deal with the little freaks that were recently discovered to live under the sands of Titania itself. Krystal had never actually seen Vox before, there were still quite a few places in Lylat that she'd never been, most of her jobs as Kursed kept her within the more colonized parts of the star systems. Aryn sat in his seat on the bridge thinking to himself, he didn't want to bother going over the information that he'd gathered...he knew it would only work against his ideas of hiding out for a few days. It was getting rather late in the night before Aryn decided that a bit of sleep might be a good idea, his first stop on his way to his room being the kitchen for a drink. That was where he found a blue vixen sitting near the room's window looking out at the walls of light that moved about the ship as it traveled through hyperspace. Aryn didn't bother saying anything to her, he simply got his drink and sat at the same table turning his seat so that he could look out at the lights as well...he figured if she needed to talk about what was bothering her she'd start the whole thing. At least an hour passed of just sitting there before Aryn realized he'd not even touched his drink. Krystal still didn't say a word, she was confused, she'd killed lots of animals before but......she had always felt some form of remorse for what she'd done. However she felt nothing for Wolf, she wasn't sorry for what she'd done, he deserved to die, hell in her mind he deserved to die again if it were possible, a hundred times over for what he'd done. Aryn didn't bother her train of thought but, she understood even without him saying anything that he was, in his own way, by sitting there with her, letting her know that he was there for her...even if he would have never said so himself. He as well as Krystal were both a bit happier since Aryn became aware of Krystal being his friend from the chess games they'd played, it at the least wasn't as uncomfortable around the place anymore. Soon Aryn let out a sigh realizing that they'd been sitting there for over an hour before standing up and heading to the door. He looked back to the blue vixen but, she clearly wanted to be alone so he left her to herself, her gaze staying on the constant stream of lights that danced around the ship, her thoughts would keep her from any form of sleep...

The next morning Aryn found that getting sleep for him was no easier than usual, only about 3 hours or so, the clock on his night stand read 4:38am an hour he was used to by now. The dark furred vulpine went about his daily routine as he often did, taking a shower among other things before getting dressed and heading for the training room where he spent most of his morning time. As he made his way to the room he could hear the sound of a punching bag taking a sound beating, and the sound of a rather loud yell ever time the bag was struck. Regardless of the fact that most of the time he preferred to do his training by himself, he entered the room breaking no amount of Krystal's concentration. Aryn headed to the first place he always started his morning, on the weight machines, though his body didn't look like it he was actually very well toned and could lift well over his own body weight, though he believed that he could always do better. His routine consisted of several different forms of exercise, but today he was a bit distracted, he wasn't used to having anyone else in the training room while he was actually there. As he looked over to her and wiped the sweat from his face with the shirt he'd recently removed Krystal's strikes grew weak and limp before she slowly fell to her knees with her paws covering her eyes...her shoulders jerked slightly at the sobs that Aryn was glad he could neither see nor hear, there was no telling what was going on inside of her head. From her place on the matted floor Krystal could hear the door open and close Aryn had clearly left her to herself...or at least she had thought he did. Aryn had stopped half-way out of the room and slowly walked back in...even as much as he tried to hide his older self he still couldn't stand to watch a woman cry...it bothered him to no end. After a short while Krystal could feel him standing over her, she didn't expect him to do anything but, to her surprise she felt him help her to her feet.

"Come on you need to get some rest...you'll feel better after you get some sleep." He said leading her out of the room.

Krystal wasn't in her bed for any more than ten minutes before she fell asleep, Aryn took this time to head to the bridge...they'd be near Vox soon and he wanted to make certain there weren't any problems in the area as the small planet had a nasty habit of accumulating electrical storms in it's atmosphere, which often would cause many of a ship's electrical systems to fail all at once. He for some reason couldn't shake the feeling that Wolf's chasing them to Sauria had something to do with Eric and Black Star...but what? Hopefully there'd be something in the information that he'd taken from Wolf's ship. His thoughts were slightly off as well however, aside from his own dilemmas he now had Krystal to deal with, who seemed to have certain issues of her own to deal with. Hopefully she would have them sorted out on her own before they were ready to leave the planet again, but, Aryn wasn't holding his breath. The trip to Vox would still take a bit over an hour or two which was plenty of time to himself.

Some time later the rocking of the ship roused the blue vixen from her sleep, her eyes burned from her crying. As she looked through her room's window she could see what looked like massive trees. They'd landed somewhere, probably what Aryn had in mind for hiding out until they sorted out all of their business. She took this time to take a shower as it seemed like they weren't going anywhere for a while; it was a longer shower than she usually did take, it lasted a bit longer than an hour, she really didn't feel like leaving her room...but she was hungry. For the most part she really just wanted to be alone. She was happy enough to find out that the kitchen was empty as she walked into the large room. Aryn didn't know what it was that was weighing so heavy on the vixen's mind but, for a brief moment before her fight with Wolf, she feared for her life...or worse, she feared what might happen if they'd have taken her alive. She hated herself for it...for her weakness. How could she face Panther if she had this kind of fear for her own life which they destroyed in the first place? Or worse Leon, he was most likely the worst of them all. He had left the Star Wolf team not long after Krystal had escaped their base with at the very least her life in tact, but, that was a moot point. The chameleon was a cold blooded trained assassin, if she was beginning to freeze up against Wolf, how could she handle something like Leon? As she sat there contemplating her own issues and eating the food she'd prepared for herself, the PA system sounded with Aryn's voice calling her to the docking bay. She didn't really want to go but, for some reason she decided to head that way anyhow. When she reached the docking bay Krystal found Aryn with a large pack full of things his attention went to the blue vixen before he passed her a pack of her own...

"I think we could both use a little time off of this ship." He said, "You ever been to a planet called Vox?"

Krystal looked at her pack before looking to the black fox and shaking her head...

"Hmm...I'm no surprised. Listen this place is pretty bad...there's almost nothing here whatsoever, nobody'll look for us here while I try to figure something out about where my old team mates might be. Meteor showers are pretty common around here, so don't wander around too much."

Krystal didn't say a word she simply nodded whenever he was expecting an answer of some kind. The surface blew a hot yet dry wind through her fur, as she made her way off of the ship behind him she realized what she'd thought was a large tree was nothing more than a large pillar of stone. The sand was dry and red, and picked up with her footsteps, the area was nothing but wasteland, the clouds in the sky were all a putrid orange color that seemed to reflect the rather nasty look of the ground itself, everywhere she looked she saw large stone formations protruding from the ground like long, sharp, curved claws sticking out of the ground. The place was no better than Titania itself. As her attention worked it's way back to Aryn she noticed he was headed for what appeared to be an odd, but natural rock formation a short ways off in the distance. Without word or question she quickly followed after him, she knew that a ship as large as The Dragoon had a Borilleum hull, Borilleum being a rather durable alloy could stand up to any sort of meteoric impact, as long as it wasn't a relatively large meteor anyhow. The dome-shaped stone structure seemed to get much larger as they approached it, a large opening was present though it looked rather small. The two were forced to duck down to get inside, and as they traveled through the small cavern Aryn looked over his shoulder...

"This dome is almost completely made of Borilleum deposits and igneous rock. I found it when I was running from the Cornerian government a long time ago after I killed Pepper and thought I killed Eric. I flew a small fighter into the atmosphere but, this place is known for electrical storms so most of the damned thing's drives went out and I was forced to land." He said, "Luckily enough I found this place when the first meteor shower of the month hit. The Borilleum makes this place naturally resistant to impacts like that. Man was I surprised when I found this place though..."

As Aryn finished his statement he stepped out into a massive camber that expanded out into a massive dome shaped room inside of the large rock formation. Krystal couldn't believe her eyes at what she saw there; it was like a small forest of large trees but, they gave off an odd glow of an eerie white that seemed to light up the entire area, to her surprise she also found she was standing on grass...

"Bio-luminescent trees..." Aryn said as Krystal ran her paw over the trunk of one of the beautiful wooden giants, "I don't know how they grow here, but I'm sure they are the reason for the grass. I looked them up but, they are recently undiscovered. I call 'em Angel Fire Pines..."

Krystal couldn't really believe that something like this existed in such a wasteland of a place, "They're beautiful..." She said in awe.

"Yeah..." Aryn said with a light chuckle, "I used to come here every now and again...you know. Just to make sure this place is still here." he said pulling out a small round object from his pack pulling a cord which caused it to instantly unfold into a tent, "Nice place to camp out for a day or two. At least until I can scan through all of this and hope I come up with something...If Wolf was after us, there was most likely a reason for it." He said laying a thick brown folder on top of a small laptop.

Krystal still kept mostly to herself as Aryn looked over the paperwork he'd taken from Wolf's ship, unfortunately all he found were standard ship notes and documents. Not much really stood out until he started filtering through the documents that he'd copied to a hard disc. There was a long list of transmission records, mainly to someone on Katina, there were also several transaction records for large scale sums of money to the Wolf's team, as well as a transfer record of several troops...most likely the ones Aryn had killed back on Sauria. There seemed to be not direct information as Aryn sat there through the night searching over the files...but then again as he thought about it all he really needed was the transmission codes. After some time Aryn found himself alone as Krystal had fallen asleep, her only cover a thick sleeping bag. The black fox decided to follow the blue vixen's lead and soon found himself drifting off. The dreams...they always seemed to bother him when he needed sleep the most, even when he wanted to wake up the most he still seemed to be trapped. Fortunately something stirred him from his sleep. The blue vixen asleep a few feet away was crying out in her sleep, and tossing about violently as she did so her cries echoing through the massive chamber, Aryn had no idea what was wrong but he was certain it had something to do with whatever had been bothering her these last few days. There would be no getting any kind of sleep with that kind of noise, so Aryn moved to her side and gently shook her...but nothing happened....

"HEY!!" He shouted shaking her a bit harder this time.

The vixen's eyes opened and in a split second she lashed out swiping her claws at whoever was there ripping four bloody stripes into the black fox's right cheek. As soon as her eyes focused, Krystal noticed that it had been Aryn, her eye were full of tears that she quickly wiped away from her face with the back of her paw...

"I'm sorry...but, you startled me." She said.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Aryn asked wiping some of the blood from his cheek, "You've been acting strange ever since you got your paws on the wolf back on Sauria."

Krystal turned away from the dark furred vulpine, "It's my problem......"

"Look...I'm sure you expect me to give you some sort of crap about sucking it up...but, I'm not. However you feel right now, you're perfectly justified in it. I'm not going to say I know what you're going through or what you're feeling right now...cuz I don't, nobody can know what you're going through right now unless they've been there. Then again most men don't have to worry about......well what happened to you, but I do know it can be hard to deal with. Rose had the same problem when she first joined Black Star...her experience was on a slightly lower level than yours but, it still fucked her up pretty badly."

Krystal wiped the end of her nose on her forearm, "That's not the problem." She said in a slightly weak voice, "On Cerinia I was trained ever since I was a kit to be a warrior, just like all the other vixens in our tribe...we were trained to ignore pain, and....fear. All that changed when I joined Fox's team, I started to feel things that I know I was trained to ignore...I especially became familiar with pain, but, I never really felt fear before...but, when I was running from Wolf on Sauria...I did. I was afraid that he might catch me......take me back. It made me feel so helpless..."

Aryn laughed, "That's it?" He asked, "You're getting this bent out of shape over fear? I know fear can be intimidating and all but it can be used to drive you as well."

Krystal sniffled a bit as she turned to face Aryn, "What do you mean?"

"Well...at least you're afraid of something that makes sense..." Aryn said sitting down beside the blue vixen, "I'm afraid of something less than a hundredth our size, I don't know why I'm afraid of spiders I just am. And if this next one gets out I swear I will kill you......." Aryn said taking a deep breath, "Up until I was about 20 years old...I was deathly afraid of water...hydrophobic. I used to take sponge baths because I was afraid to step into a shower."

Krystal laughed a bit at Aryn's expense, "Why the hell were you afraid of water?"

"I drown once when I was 8...some stranger pulled me out of the water, gave me CPR...I was afraid of water up until Emilia forced me to get over it."

"How?"

"She was a close friend at that point...and made me face my fears...and threw my ass into a swimming pool....deep one. By the time I stopped panicking I realized I could stand up..." Aryn laughed at himself a bit, "After that she taught me how to swim...now it's one of my favorite past times." He said, "See. It's like I said at least your fears make sense...I still can't stand to stay under water or I go into a panic attack. You're just afraid of people doing things to you, or hurting you...something that's a lot more likely to happen than me drowning again at my age. I'm still working on the spider thing though..." He said shivering a bit, "Just the thought of those little fuckers creeps me out, but, I learned from Emilia that fears can be fought off just like anything else you just need to face up to them."

"But...I'm a warrior...we aren't meant to feel fear." Krystal replied.

"Listen...do you know why that philosophy can never work?" Aryn asked, "Fear is a natural, response to dangerous situations. Everyone fears something, no matter how petty and stupid it might be...nobody lives without fear. See if this helps, and old friend of mine once told me; _Courage is not the absence of fear, but the presence of fear and the willingness to carry on. _You were afraid of Wolf...but that didn't stop you from kicking his ass. Like I said Courage...it's all you ever need..." The black fox said heading back to his tent, "Just try to get some decent sleep okay?"

Krystal managed to lay back down after a bit, "Aryn..."

An annoyed growl emanated form the black fox's tent...this reaction caused her to cut herself off and close her eyes thinking about everything Aryn had just told her. Though it didn't last long for a moment, he was acting like a normal person. Whatever the deal, she didn't care his words really did help her to fall back asleep, happily without another nightmare to bother her.

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**A/N: Sorry for the slow chapter...trust me there won't be many more. The big fights are about to start and there are going to be a shit load of 'em. The next chapter will most likely be that last slow one you will see for some time. I've decided that the majority of this fic needs to be action based so that's what I'm gonna go for now that most of the plot is put out there. Hope you enjoyed the chapter...sorry if not...wait sorry? Me? Screw that! Just enjoy the chapter...**

This is The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox, saying:_ I don't suffer from insanity...I enjoy every second of it..._

PS: Thanks for the constant support and the reviews...have a nice day(^_^)


	16. Chapter 15:Training

**Chapter 15**

(July 23rd)

(10:00am)

The smell of fresh food brought Aryn's attention to the real world from his sleep. The smell of fresh sausage and eggs made his mouth water, he slowly crawled out of his tent to find a small plate of freshly cooked food sitting by his tent, As he ate he looked around and noticed Krystal walking about the area examining the trees and surroundings a bit at a time. She still seemed a bit withdrawn but, for the most part a bit more herself, at the least she seemed to be smiling a bit. After finishing his meal Aryn went back to work looking over the information that they'd taken from Wolf's ship...still the only thing that seemed to stand out of the norm was the small list of transmissions to the same com channel. It was as Krystal seemed busy writing something down on a small notepad as she examined the area, that Aryn punched in the small string of numbers causing a small com channel to open up on his laptop. The face of an old ape appeared...

"GOD DAMN IT O'DONNELL! I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL....." The ape froze up for a second, "Hello Drayvn...I take it this means O'donnell is dead."

Aryn's face twisted into an almost enraged snarl as something about the ape's eyes seemed familiar, "Eric..." He growled.

The ape's features seemed to shift dramatically forming into that of a dark furred fox, "Hello brother. Unfortunately the good doctor couldn't be here at the moment...you could say he's......lost his head at the moment."

"How are you doing this?"

The black fox smiled, "Isn't it obvious brother? Just another lab rat running through a maze."

"Where is McCloud?" Aryn demanded looking over to Krystal then back to the screen.

"Never mind him...he is safe for the time being. However I don't expect you to understand my motives. All I've ever done is looked out for you and your best interest. We were made perfect by the project, Emi...."

"DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING SAY HER NAME!!!" Aryn shouted pulling the laptop up to his face in an instant of rage as if it were allowing him to reach out and take the vulpine by the neck, this instantly called to Krystal's attention, "Make sure you don't forget this. My brother is dead......and so are you."

"Well then...if indeed Eric Dark is dead....then you shall call me...Albedo. Come find me if you dare, it will make no difference to me. Blood or mud they will all perish."

"Where is McCloud? He has nothing to do with any of this." Aryn said as Krystal walked up attracting Eric's attention.

Eric looked to the blue vixen then to his brother, "So be it. He is being held in Site-B on Katina....23 miles south of the main city. Near Shannah Lake. Perhaps you will find more there than you expect...Good bye Rubedo."

"Rubedo? What the fuck is he talking about?" Aryn asked himself.

"Who cares?" Krystal replied, "We know where Fox is so lets go."

Aryn thought for a moment, "Hang on......why would he just tell us where McCloud is? It hardly makes any sense. It's not right, he's always been smarter than me and patience as hell...he's planning something, probably an ambush waiting for us at this...Site-B. No sense in rushing into a place where we'll just end up dead...we're gonna need to do some sort of recon on this one." The black fox said scratching his chin, "Gather up your things and lets go. Something tells me we aren't going to get a whole lot of rest from here on out."

It took them almost no time to get their things packed together and get back to the ship, as they sat on the bridge Aryn set the ship's auto-pilot to take them out of the planet's atmosphere. As soon as they were had passed into open space, Aryn set NAV to retrieve clearance for a warp jump then headed out of the room. He had many things to sort thought, and he best did that while he was training. Krystal noticed as Aryn left the room, he took his sword with him, which most of the time wouldn't have seemed strange but, he never took it to the training hall with him. Curiously she followed behind the black fox, he vanished into his room for a moment returning wearing a pair of loose training pants of a deep gray color, opposed to what he normally wore these pants had wide opened legs and were tied about his waist by a long black sash that left a hanging length along the side of his leg that reached down to the knee, his sword was carefully tucked into the side of the sash, he didn't wear a shirt any time he went to the training hall, but he was wearing odd shoes, they were smooth looking and only came up to his ankles, his paws were covered by small gloves that only covered his palms. He didn't seem to acknowledge the blue vixen's following behind him at all, even as they entered the training room...it seemed odd to Krystal how he was acting, the black fox stepped into the center of the room's training ring and sat on his knees with his eyes closed. His shoulders rose and fell with as steady breath, his mind at that point must have been elsewhere. Without warning Aryn suddenly shot to a standing position and in a motion that Krystal had neglected to notice had drawn his sword in what would have most definitely been an incredibly lethal blow to the gut. As Krystal watched on the black fox began moving about the ring as if he were fighting some sort of unseen opponent, making strikes here and there some of which where thrown with speeds that Krystal had trouble noticing at all...she wondered how he could move the weapon through the air with so much speed, but seemed almost entranced by the sight of his movements, one flowing into another like some sort of beautiful dance of death. His bout with the invisible person behind his eyes went on for almost an hour before he finally whipped his weapon in a circular motion slowly sliding it back into it's scabbard, it was understandable that he was sweating profusely at this point...Aryn sighed as he looked to the floor of the ring...

"He's still better than me...I know it...He taught me everything I know about this sword." He said softly, "I don't think I could take him in a fair fight...but I want to, so badly. He held his swordsmanship in such high regard...it's the last thing that Eric has, that means it's the last thing I can take from him."

Krystal was still a bit shocked she'd never fully seen him use his sword, she could not even imagine what Eric's skill might be like if he was that much better than Aryn, "How do you move so fast with that thing?" She asked, "I wish I could move my staff like that."

"Well..." Aryn said, "I can make you a lot faster...but, there's a big difference between a staff and a sword...so I'm not so certain how much faster you'll become."

As Aryn said this he walked over to a tall locker and removed two large metal bars, their thickness was a match for the shaft of her staff, and their length was a bit less than half of her staff's. He tossed one to Krystal who felt as though her arms were being weighed down, it must have weighed at least 20lbs...

"What is this for?" She asked.

"This is how I became so fast." He said taking it back as he walked by.

After a brief stop at Aryn's room where he emerged wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a white tank top, the two headed into the docking bay. Aryn welded the two poles together. As Krystal watched on Aryn tossed her the weighted weapon which caused her to loose her balance for a moment., she began to see where Aryn was going with this, if she trained her body to be used to swinging something so much heavier than her staff she should have no problem with the staff later. As they headed back toward the training room Krystal went inside while Aryn seemed to keep walking. Krystal was in a bit of a hurry to try training with the large pole; her first swing was a downward one causing the large thing to slip out of her paws, the end landing on her foot. The blue vixen let out a loud yelp, as she fell on her ass holding the injured foot. It was just then that Aryn walked into the room with a small stack of clothes in his arms. He stopped and laughed...

"You dropped it on your foot didn't you?" He asked still laughing, "Don't feel too bad...Emm did the same thing the first time she swung one of the practice swords. Here." He finished sliding the clothes into the ring behind her, "These can help your fighting too. They were Emilia's...you seem to be about her size."

Krystal looked over the small pile of gear; there was a sports bra, it was a bright red like the rest of the gear, a pair of pants with legs that were slightly baggy, though the bottoms of the legs would bind tightly to her shins, there were shoes a lot like the ones Aryn wore though these ones would reach up to her shins, a pair of punching gloves that seemed to be padded across the knuckles that would reach half way up her forearms, a pair of elbow pads, and a long sash of the same black color as the one Aryn had worn...

"Those aren't normal clothes...so be careful."

Aryn left the room and headed to the kitchen where he took one of his bottled drinks from the fridge before taking a seat...

"NAV why aren't we moving?" Aryn called noticing it'd been over two hours and Vox was still visible.

"The CHSA has issued an apology to all travelers of hyperspace as they are currently experiencing massive electrical problems due to an accident on the city streets. The CHSA's mainframe will be back on-line in approximately 12 to 24hours."

Aryn sighed with frustration as he ran a paw over his face, "Fine then take us to Katina as fast as the normal thrusters can get us there."

"Approximate time of travel at Warp-5 to Katina......122hours 30minutes."

Aryn sighed again, "I need a faster ship." He said, "Hopefully we'll get clearance sometime soon. _Blood or mud they will all perish..._I don't like the way he said that."

Aryn figured Krystal was getting used to using the weighed down staff...from the way she was going about it he was certain for a short while that she was going to ask him to teach her more about the way he fought. He had to admit at least to himself that she was a very well trained fighter, had she been on Cerinia he was certain that she would be many times stronger than she was out here in Lylat. For some time the dark furred fox simply sat there thinking to himself about what was going on, he was actually happy that Krystal was with him, without her he never would have found out about any of this without her he'd still most likely be wandering around waiting for something to come up. Soon enough the hiss of the bridge door opening caused Aryn to spin his chair to face the door, the sight of Krystal made him nearly break out in laughter; she had a horribly angry look on her face and was panting incredibly heavily, her fur practically laid down with sweat, and she was supporting herself on the wall as if her feet refused to hold up her own weight. With some sort of slight difficulty she walked across the room and flopped down into a seat still giving Aryn a hate filled look...

"What are you looking at?" Aryn half laughed, "You asked how I got so fast and now you know. Just like my training gear, Emilia's was also weighted."

Krystal lifted her right arm allowing it to fall back to the chair's arm rest, "How....how. How fucking...heavy....is this stuff?" She asked between breaths.

"Last time I checked...Emm was wearing....20...50...75......about 90 pounds of extra weight. If you ever actually punched someone with those gloves on your paws you'd probably kill 'em."

Krystal gave Aryn an unsure look, "It...feels like...a fucking ton."

"That's just because your muscles aren't used to it yet." Aryn replied, "Trust me when Eric gave me my first set, it wasn't any different. Just wear that suit around the ship for a day or two then take it off...you'll feel the results."

Krystal did as she was instructed and kept the suit on all day, by the end of the day every bit of her body was sore, muscles she wasn't even aware she had screamed in pain at the very thought of her moving. Of course that didn't stop her from quickly shedding the gear and her underwear before walking into her own personal bathroom. She wasn't about to bother with a shower, it was in times like these when every muscle in her body hurt that she'd come to appreciate what a bath was. The blue vixen steadied herself for a moment as she lowered herself into the tub, even her backside seemed to have problems with her sitting or laying down even in a bathtub full of hot water. As she let the water's heat soak into her sore muscles relaxing them slightly, she thought back to all the training she'd ever done...and compared it to this and could only come up with one outcome...Emilia must have been incredibly strong and fast if her and Aryn both did this kind of training. She winced a bit as she stretched out her legs. It was her legs and back that hurt the most, but, as she lay there massaging her legs the pain began to slowly subside. Once her water began to put a chill to her Krystal climbed out and dried off before walking back into her room where she found a new bra and pair of panties before dropping onto her bed, there was not doubt in her mind that she'd have no problem sleeping tonight.

Aryn tried his hardest to ignore it but, the claw marks that Krystal had accidentally left on the side of his face had needed stitches, her claws were kept at an incredibly keen edge to have dug so deeply into his flesh. The black fox had not used the medical bay of his ship in so long that it actually took him about 15 minutes to find the place. There was a thick layer of dust about the place, but he wasn't there for any of the common stuff or to clean the place, all he needed was some alcohol and a stitching kit. After finding what he needed he headed back to his room and using his bathroom mirror began the short process of patching up the small slashes on his right cheek. After a short time he looked away from the mirror and headed back into his room, hopefully to get some rest and wake up in orbit above Katina waiting for their chance to save Fox and hopefully find out some more things about what Eric was up to. Aryn's sleep however was less than uneventful. His dream was not of his usual variety...

A very young Aryn ran across small stepping stones attempting to cross a small river, shouting to someone off in the distance who had already crossed...

"Eric! Wait for me...it's no fair you're bigger than me!"

As the young kit finally made it across the water, he began to look around but his much older brother was nowhere in sight. He then began to call out to Eric but the fox never appeared. For the longest time the little fox rushed about until he found himself sitting at the edge of the small lake at the river's end crying. He didn't know the way home Eric said there was something he wanted to show him way out here. As the distraught little fox sat there something hit the little kit from behind sending him several feet out into the water. Aryn instantly began thrashing about the water attempting to stay above the surface, the little one still didn't know how to swim. As he fought to stay above the water, the little one saw a familiar shape standing near the shore. The kit attempted to cry out but was silenced as the water rushed up over his head pulling him down into the lake...it felt like an eternity as the world went black before the kit's eyes fluttered open, looking at two blurry light brown figures standing over him...

"Dad is he gonna be okay?!" A young voice half shouted.

"He'll be find Fox..." A more grown voice added, "I'm proud of you son...not just anyone would have jumped into the lake like that. Let's get him to a hospital."

Aryn shot up into a sitting position struggling to breath, it felt as though his lungs had been deprived of air, like he was drowning. He fought for a bit attempting to catch his breath, and eventually threw up over the side of his bed before sitting back up and wiping a mass of sweat from his face. His face developed into a hate filled snarl as he thought back to that day...

"Errric..." He growled as his teeth were clenched together so tightly that he could taste the blood from his gum line.

He wasn't sure how much of the dream he could trust but, he did remember the way it had all happened now. Oddly enough he was out to save the very soul that pulled him from his death. A young Fox McCloud and his father on a simple vacation had stumbled onto the young vulpine's first act of heroism, in saving Aryn's life. It all felt like a memory rather than a dream, and every moment of it drove into Aryn's determination his brother had much more than one death to pay for. After such and experience Aryn found it impossible to sleep again...luckily as he looked to the clock on his night stand he realized that it was 5 o'clock...much more sleep that he was used to getting. Aryn, like every morning, shook off what the dreams had told him and headed to the bathroom soon emerging dressed in his training gear that Krystal had seen him wear earlier before heading to the training room to work off whatever feelings he might have at the time. He wasn't sure what they were going to find on Katina or even if they were going to find anything at all...but, he knew that things were about to go from rocky...to a full on landslide, and as much as he hated the idea his own brother was at the source...

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**A/N: Wow...chapter 15 already. Hey thanks for all the support and the stream of reviews. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter as much as I did writing it. Especially since the next one will start one hell of a long series of fights. Till next time all...R&R and thanks for reading c'ya.**

**The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox  
**


	17. Chapter 16:Cold as Steel

**Chapter 16 **

(July 24th)

(11:03am)

Krystal woke from a very good sleep, which had become a rather unusual occurrence aboard this ship....her muscles still hurt like nothing she'd ever felt before. Aryn had told her that the suit he'd given her would help, not make her feel like every muscle in her body was tied into a mass of knots. She winced as she rolled out of bed, he legs refused to allow her to stand up without giving her some kind of grief, She took another hot bath, which really helped with the soreness, she refused to wear the training gear again for the day...then again she hoped they were already at Katina...though she was not about to hold her breath. After getting dressed she headed to the kitchen, happy to find a fresh, hot plate of food and cup of coffee waiting for her with a small note. As she sat down she realized that Aryn could not have left the room all that long ago...as she ate she glanced over to the note sitting beside her plate...

_Don't bother looking for me....hyperdrive kicked on last night. I'm in the city scouting this Site-B we've been told about. Coming from Eric I'm not so sure if I trust his word's validity. There's something on the kitchen counter for your muscles, it'll make you feel better..._

Krystal waited until she was done with her food before taking her dishes to the sink, where she found a small glass container filled with a strange green paste. As she sat back at her table she removed the lid and recoiled at the smell of the stuff. It was powerful, and made her eyes water and her throat burn a bit causing her to cough. She took a light breath before dipping her fingers into the stuff, she rubbed some of it into the skin beneath the fur of her forearm, it burned for a moment but, as the smelly ointment sat it seemed to quickly make the sore muscles of her forearm relax, relieving their tightness. After such results she quickly moved on to all her other muscles...she smelled horrible but at the very least she felt better. After a bit of time she found herself sick of waiting around and headed to the ship's bridge where she surprisingly found Aryn working at his computer...

"So what's in that stuff?" Krystal asked referring to the ointment.

"You'd be a lot happier not knowing..." Aryn said looking to the screen, "Well I'm not certain if it is a Black Star development site or not but, there is definitely some sort of structure under that building." He said pointing to a map on his screen that displayed a large warehouse.

"Looks kinda run down...how do you know there's something odd about the place?" The blue vixen asked.

"In one hour 30 different men went in...but when I did there were only 10 men inside." The black fox said, "Not many were really armed. I think they may still be experimenting here."

"But didn't the General do all of those things to put a hold on the project?" Krystal asked.

"That was what I thought...maybe I was wrong and someone else took over the project. Or, the new General had plans."

Krystal looked to Aryn, "Peppy would never do anything like that. If someone has started the experiments again trust me......Peppy has nothing to do with them."

"I hope you're right." Aryn replied, "We'll wait till night to make our move...most of these places change shifts for the scientists pretty late at night so nobody notices."

"You certain about this Aryn?" Krystal asked, "I don't know what it is...but, something tells me we shouldn't be doing this."

"Sorry kid...but this is a job and if McCloud is in there it's all be sooner I get paid." The dark vulpine replied, "And...I think I owe him my life." He finished under his breath.

"I'm all for getting Fox out of that place...if he's in there in the first place, but...I don't know my telepathy never steers me wrong and right now it's telling me that that building is bad news." Krystal said rubbing her arms, "I don't like it....I'll go...but, I don't like it."

Aryn sighed for a moment, "Fine then stay here...I'm not staying behind just because you have a sudden moment of woman's intuition."

Krystal glared at the black fox, he was being nicer to her after learning that she was his old chess partner but, he was still a bit of an ass...but then again that much time alone in space would do that to just about anyone, "I'm not saying we should stay here...asshole. It's just that we should actually think this through for once and try to get though it without being shot at for once."

"Alright then. We'll go and examine the place tonight but, if I see an opening to get inside......I'm taking it."

Having somehow talked some sense into Aryn, Krystal walked out of the room and headed for her own where she could relax until they were ready, despite the ointment that really did help, her muscles still hurt quite a bit. After a few short moments of laying on her soft bed, she found it impossible to stay awake as she slipped off into a silent slumber. Meanwhile Aryn sat on the bridge looking over all of Wolf's information for a second time just to make certain that he hadn't missed anything. He had attempted to get the wolf himself to talk but, at the moment he was to busy screaming to really hear any of the questions that Aryn had wanted to ask, normally he would have been angry with someone acting so rashly but, he understood Krystal's conviction, he would have done far worse things had it been Emilia that was in Krystal's position...he'd have made them beg for death. As his thoughts drifted back toward his past the black vulpine sighed and leaned his head back against his seat's headrest allowing what he was reading to fall to the floor. His memories would always go there, especially around the blue vixen that was in most ways attempting to help with the mission...she was so much like Emilia that it often made him wonder if somehow the two were related but, from the reports that Aryn had read on the vixen's background that was entirely impossible. It was odd at times Krystal's attitude made him wonder if she'd even harm a simple fly...and then when she was angry it was as if there wasn't a force in the cosmos that could stop her. She was much more frail than she attempted to let on, especially when she was injured...but like himself all she seemed to want....was justice for the things that had been done to her. As he sat by Aryn's thoughts shot around from one subject to another as they often did when he was thinking...but that was cut off as he noticed something on one of his screens. He'd placed a small camera near the warehouse that he was certain was the entrance to Site-B...there were four animals all in uniform laying on the ground outside the outer wall....

"NAV...zoom in on camera 1. 200 meters."

The image zoomed in and cleared up a bit but he still couldn't make anything out...

"100 meters..." He said getting the same results, "25..."

As the image seemed to rush upon him Aryn's eyes went wide, he'd only looked at the screens a moment ago before leaning his head away from the screens. The four guards were brutally murdered, each laying atop a thick red pool of it's own life force, some missing body parts, while one had been completely rent in two spilling his entrails about the ground. Aryn burst thought Krystal's door...

"Krystal...hey wake up." Aryn half shouted shaking the vixen from her sleep.

The poor blue fox had only gotten about thirty minutes of sleep at the least, "MMMM....What?"

"We're moving in early come on."

"What? What about the guards?" She asked stretching her back as she rolled to a seated position on the edge of her bed.

"I seriously doubt that's going to be a problem. Get your gear and lets go."

As Krystal started to get her things and slid her collapsed staff into it's holster on her thigh she looked to Aryn who was just leaving the room, "What the hell is going on? Why are you panicking like this?"

"I think somebody beat us to McCloud...now get your ass moving." Aryn demanded as he rushed off toward the docking bay of the ship.

As Krystal rushed onto the docking bay she found Aryn waiting for her near a small door against the side of the ship that led to the small gangplank that would take them out into the large hanger outside. Krystal remembered everything about Katina; it was a massive city...like Corneria City it was one of the only two cities in the star system listed as a Utropolis...a city housing more than 1 billion citizens...the smaller part of the city they were in now in was no different form the rest of the place. It was a beautiful city just like Corneria City, accept for the fact that most of the time this particular section of town was known for it's disappearing people; murderers, rapists, psychos, gang members, like any other large city could have been the problem but, there were no bodies or anything, and even the crime rate in the city had gone down. The two rushed through the streets as quickly as they could before coming to a stop a few yards from the large metal building that housed the underground complex. Krystal took the moment as Aryn looked around to catch her breath she was still worn from her sore muscles...Aryn had expected the trip to Katina to take longer than it had, otherwise he never would have suggested that she wear the suit all day. After catching her breath Krystal rushed over to the black fox, who at the time was examining a large wolf that was missing his left arm and who's neck had been crushed...

"What happened here?"

Aryn looked to a large fracture in the asphalt that resembled a fist print, "This was all done by someone's bare paws. Tore this one's arm off...ripped the raccoon over there in half, fought the cougar to your left for a few seconds tried to smash his face in right here, caught him and broke him in half. I've never seen this sort of thing done without a weapon."

A normal person may have been effected by such a sight as the one before them, but Krystal had seen much worse, and Aryn had created far worse. The two ignored the scenes of ghoulish slaughter the littered the interior of the warehouse; it was as if something had stormed through the building ripping apart anything in it's path, what was worse...Aryn believed that that was just what had happened. As the two approached what would appear to be a wall, they noticed that a set of doors were torn open, peeled apart as if they were no more than aluminum siding, Aryn ran his fingertips along a set of massive claw marks set into the steel surface of the wall next to the door. Whatever had done this was strong enough to tear open a set of steel doors like paper and leave scratch marks in a solid steel wall. As they entered the room the doors led to, they found themselves in a massive elevator shaft, the lights had been deactivated, there was a severed paw hanging from it's place on the small pressure pad that would cause the lift to head down the long, dark, diagonal shaft before them, someone had attempted to get away...with little results. Aryn brushed the paw over the side and pressed the large pad that caused the lift to shake for a moment before descending towards the depths below the city, a secret that the Cornerian Alliance tried their hardest to keep a secret. As they reached the bottom of the shaft, they were met by yet more blood and gore as the walls were painted with the remains of several guards that had attempted to stop whatever had come through the area. Whatever it had been didn't really believe much in doors as the smaller ones themselves in front of Krystal and Aryn had also been torn from their spot flung down the hallway. The white halls were stained red with spatters of blood from the constant stream of soldiers that had in some way or other attempted to stop the advancing killer, whether it was living or machine Aryn was not certain but, it was not to be taken lightly. Overhead several lights flickered as the facility's electrical systems had clearly been damaged, often giving them a clear image of the death and blood left in the wake of whatever had walked through this place. As they made their way along the halls there were more scratches along the walls as well as large imprints where bodies had been slammed into the walls with killing force, as there were large spatters of blood in each large dent that was left in the area. It was as they walked about the area that they heard a shrill scream, as if someone was fearing for their life. Aryn and Krystal rushed to the end of the hall where Aryn stopped the blue vixen from rushing out into the open and peeked around the corner.

A single young looking wolf guard was on his back attempting to crawl away, though his legs had clearly been shattered, His please for his life seemed to be filled with the fear of death, at whatever was stalking him from the shadows. From the darkness stepped a single figure, an otter, his fur a deep chromatic color, wearing what appeared to be a denim vest over a well defined chest and abdomen as he wore not undershirt at all, the blue jeans that he wore were covered with holes from blaster fire and bullets, as was the vest he wore. His hair was a bit longer than normal, just reaching his shoulders, and was allowed to go free. His face carried no expression, even though every inch of his body was spattered about with blood. He didn't seem to care much about the environment or the animal begging for his life, instead he simply took a few heavy steps before stomping his boot into the begging lupine's face, the force causing the animal's head to rupture in all directions simply leaving behind nothing but a blood stained impression in the metal floor and a wildly jittering body that soon came to a stop as it's nerves realized that it was dead. The animal then turned to a door to his left, which produced a slight voice...

"Code Red lockdown."

The otter reached out digging his fingers into the door's edge that closed against the wall, which he then pulled away with little effort. As the animal trudged through the door, Aryn looked back to Krystal. The animal was barely as tall as she was, but his strength was beyond anything Aryn had ever seen before. Without any sort of words the two rushed off following whatever signs they could find looking for some sort of holding cells. Fortunately it looked like no one had been there before Krystal and Aryn rushed into the room, the guards had left a long time ago, There was only one cell active with a large sheet of blue light buzzing with power instead of a door or bars, and behind it a large brownish red furred fox lay on his side on what appeared to be some sort of bed that hung from one of the cells walls...

"Fox!!" Krystal shouted as she rushed over to the blue lights.

The vulpine's ear twitched for a moment, "Krystal....?" He muttered before rolling over.

As soon as he could clearly see the blue vixen standing on the outside of the blue field of light he rushed over; he was much larger than she remembered, his usually dense musculature was even more well defined than ever, his chest was much wider than it once was, and even his arms were much wider, showing that he'd build up much more muscle over the years...

"Krystal...how..." He started.

"Forget it. Peppy sent us to save you." She said working with the small device on the wall that would open the cell before being pushed aside only to have the device smashed in by Aryn's fist, causing the field to vanish from in front of the cell

"What the hell are you talking about? Peppy's the one that put me in that cell." Fox asked as the vixen rushed over and hugged him.

"I haven't seen you in years...I'm sorry about everything..." Krystal started.

A light laugh caught their attention from behind, "Oh now this is precious...I wish I had a camera."

Aryn instantly shot about to meet his brother, with the otter form before standing beside him, "ERIC!!" Aryn shouted reaching for his sword.

"Hello brother...I never would have thought my plan would have played out so nicely. The Cerinian, you, and McCloud all at the same time...and now I don't have to hand the blue one over to O'Donnell when I'm finished with her...perhaps I could find a more suitable use for her afterward, she is a very lovely creature after all." Eric said shifting his sights to the blue vixen that Fox pushed behind him, "Ah...right. The hero...I'd almost forgotten about you, I don't think even my friend here has much of a hope of fighting you and coming out unscathed. However first my brother here and I have unfinished business to attend to, don't we Dravyn?" Eric said taking a wide legged stance before placing his paw a few inches from the handle of the sword he held that was nearly identical to the one Aryn carried, "...first matter however...perhaps you'd feel better fighting someone you know a bit better."

After saying this Eric took a deep breath, he somehow became a bit shorter, and his fur began to shift lighter and lighter until it was as pure white as virgin snow, his hair grew from it's shorter length until it lay against his back and even his chest developed into a pair of rather full breasts. Eric then opened his eyes, the only thing that hadn't changed. He'd somehow taken the form of the black vulpine's worst nightmare...Emilia...

"You sick son of a bitch." Aryn growled as he fell into the same fighting stance as Eric.

"Oh...come now that's no way to speak about mother..." Eric said in Emilia's voice.

Aryn and Eric slowly stepped closer toward one another squaring off a bit their stances perfectly similar to each other's...for what appeared to be an eternity the two simply stood there. Neither moving an inch. At times it was hard to tell if either of them were even breathing, More than a minute passed and still they didn't move, Krystal could clearly see the tears rolling down the sides of Aryn's face, he was hesitating...even if Eric only looked like Emilia he couldn't bring himself to do it. Suddenly Aryn's expression twisted into one of pure hatred as he shot forward tearing his sword from it's scabbard, Eric doing the same, a long jet of blood flying out between the two. Aryn took a few steps before dropping the scabbard to his weapon, as his steps began to stagger and slow until his weapon itself fell from his paw and with one final step the black fox fell to one knee before falling to his the cold metal floor. In an instant Fox rushed Eric only to meet the point of a sword being held to his throat...

"I don't think you want to do that....the little one's life may depend on it." Eric smiled evily.

Fox's expression fell as his fists fell to hi sides and he lowered his head, "I'm sorry Krystal....I have no choice."

"Maxx take the Cerinian." Eric ordered the otter.

"What about him?" Maxx asked tapping Aryn's body with his foot.

"As good as dead...he's useless now. Leave him..."

As the Eric and Maxx led their hostages out of the room, Aryn could only lay there and watch the world fade...he'd failed in everything he'd set out to accomplish. The mission was a failure, and most of all, he had died, attempting to avenge Emilia's death. As the wold faded before his eyes into a bitter and cold darkness, he could hear Krystal's voice carry out over the area fading as she called out to him...

"Aryn"

"...ryn."

"...yn."

Soon being replaced by a melodic tone that was all too familiar as the world faded into utter darkness....

"_Dravyn..."

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_**A/N: Wow...I hadn't even realized that there were arleady 15 chapters to this thing...going by kinda fast. Well for those who care...seems to be quite a few, I've decided that Chains of Fate may be a two parter I'm working it out so You'll know when and if it gets posted. Though I have no Idea what to call it...I'll know when I get there. Anyhow hope you all enjoyed the chapter...I know i did ^_^...R&R and I'm currently trying to get some work done on Legacy of the Fallen and Relaxation. But that's proving difficult...meh...It'll come to me It often dose...**

** Thanks for the endless support....**

**The footsteps in the darkness- SkullFox , Saying...**

_"You can't spell Slaughter without Laughter...^_^"_


	18. Chapter 17:Realization

**A/N: Sorry for the late update...but, I've been under a lot of stress these last few days...and have gotten very little sleep in the process. Add all of these things together and I pretty much can't concentrate on my writing. I'll get back up to COF asap, and probably put in something new for Relaxation just for the hell of it later but, until then my next update may take a little time. Promise it won't be too long though....Thanks for the support guys/girls...C'ya...

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**Chapter 17**

The darkness surrounded and embodied everything that was the world around him...the other side, it was nothing like he'd dreamed it would be, there was nothing; No lights, no happiness......no Emilia. Instead the void he faced was as deep and dark as the hole in his heart, This was where he truly deserved to be, in darkness...alone. Without anyone to show him even the smallest fleck of hope, the void that he faced was instead simply empty and cold, he would have compared it to space but, space had majesty, and beauty to be found everywhere in the countless stars, and nebula, and worlds that were scattered about it. He felt nothing, he had failed...and this was the fate that failures deserved...he'd lost the only friend he could remember and there was nothing he could do to stop it...

_I knew I'd be no different...He'll always be stronger than me._ His thoughts seemed to echo off of the nothingness before him.

_Then why try? _The echoes fell back on him. _Why give your life for something so...meaningless?_

_I made a promise...I swore......to avenge her._

For a short while he heard nothing..._Then why not stop wallowing in self-pity? Wake up Drayvn......_

_WAKE UP!!_

As Aryn's eyes shot open an unreal amount of pain shot through his body the instant pulse of agony a sure sign that he still lived, he would have screamed out in pain but the agony was so intense that it instantly robbed him on his voice, his mouth gaped open and his head fell back in a silent scream that only the gods could hear. There was more than agony to his pain, he'd given up, called it in and was ready to simply lay down and die. Moments of blinding pain led him to climbing to his feet which seemed to refuse to hold him upright, soon his sheathed sword became his only leg, it's sturdy construction the only possible means on which walking became possible for him now. It took what seemed like forever to simply reach the lift that would take him to the surface, but Eric and his metal head friend had disabled it, he was forced to climb up the shaft as his consciousness threatened to fade from the constant blood loss from the gaping wound in his chest...but, he refused to let such a thing stop him. Over an hour passed before he found himself limply trudging through the streets toward his ship's hanger, his vision was half gone by the time he collapsed to the metal floor of his ship's docking bay...

"NAV...Corneria...now." He said in between labored breaths.

As he lay there on his back Aryn ran his claw along the middle of his shirt cutting blood soaked fabric in half. He didn't even have the strength to lift his head to inspect the wound he instead pawed around his chest until he found the deep crevice left from his right breast to his side just short of his naval. As expected, it was a deep cut, life threatening even, he was amazed with himself that he'd even gotten as far as he had...he couldn't wait to find help for the injury...and as such he was left with no other choice. He lifted his shaking paw into view which effectively burst into flames as it had many times before...the flame was weak, and roared with almost none of the ferocity that it had in past applications of this ability. It was however enough for the job. A scream of absolute pain rushed from Aryn's lungs as he placed a fingertip into the open wound, he could smell the singed fur and the putrid smell of burnt flesh, the most intense pain he'd ever felt in his life as his flaming appendage cauterized the wound that Eric had left behind. He was close to passing out but he had to seal off the wound before he completely bled to death in the docking bay of his own ship. His screams carried on throughout the entire procedure which to him felt like an eternity within an eternity, He could have sworn doing this had taken hours when it in truth had only taken mere seconds. And as he felt the final section of the wound close behind the flames that surrounded his finger, after the process was over he no longer fought the urge and finally allowed his body to pass out from the pain...

**(July 27th)**

**(10:11am)**

Aryn's sight slowly made the blurred mess of a world around him fade slowly into focus, his chest felt like it was on fire...how long had he been laying there? He only really remembered Eric's attack, then burning, and pain. As he managed to get a clear look at his chest he remembered everything at the sight of the massive burn scar across his chest, Eric had very nearly killed him. Aryn fought to his feet and took a step only to stumble and fall flat on his face...he'd lost more blood than he'd thought, his motor functions were all fucked up and his head was pounding. It felt like someone had run him over several times within the same few moments. He knew however that the main thing he needed at the moment was liquid, lots to drink, it was the only cure for blood loss that he had ever learned about. Using his sword as a crutch once again Aryn managed to make his way out into the halls where the walls would hold him up as he stumbled toward the kitchen of the ship. After some time of sitting there Aryn found that the fogginess in his head had cleared up a bit, he didn't feel quite so dizzy anymore either, but, his head still hurt like nobody's business...

"NAV..." He called wincing a bit at the sound of his own voice, "Where are we?"

"Current location...Planet Corneria Outer Aerospace...reached approximately 32hours ago."

"My god..." Aryn said to himself, "How long was I out?"

"The captain's presence was isolated to the Docking Bay for approximately 41hours."

"Wow...two days. I must have been worse than I thought...NAV. Get Nex on the com link...channel 470-116-3428."

Aryn simply sat there with his head resting on the table in front of him when he heard the familiar voice call through the PA system, "Hello....Aryn? This is your number but I can't see you." It was Nex's voice.

"He's alive Nex....Eric." Aryn replied.

"What!? Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure......he tried to kill me. He damn near did." Aryn said, "I need a favor."

Nex's sighed carried through the PA even if he hadn't wanted it to, "What?"

"I need you to see if you can find anything in this system that looks like suspicious activity...and..."

"And what?" Nex asked as Aryn had paused for a bit.

"Anything you can find about four names; Albedo, Rubedo, Nigredo, and Citrinitas. I'm in no condition to do anything right now...but, I have to find Eric. He has another Cerinian and I don't want to think about what he may want with her, cuz I think he's gonna reenact the experiment or something, something about needing her blood...McCloud's too..."

"I'll see what I can do...but get your ass to a hospital." Nex replied in a worried tone, as Aryn was breathing heavily.

"You know I can't do that Nex, too many people in this system know my face."

Nex went silent for a moment, "Fine...I'll send someone up to your ship. She's a friend, you can trust her."

"I...don't think...this is a job for..." For some reason Aryn was finding himself short of breath.

"She was a medic for the military...best there is...just shut up and take help where you can find it." Nex said, "Hang on..." For a moment Nex went quiet and a minute later his voice came back, "Alright she's on her way. Her name's Irea. Try not to be an asshole to her...she deserves a bit of respect."

"Nex..." Aryn called out.

"What is it this time?"

"Thanks....for always being there..." Aryn replied in an uncharacteristic manner.

"You're welcome...just hang tight and help'll be there soon. I'll see what I can dig up on that information for you in the past time."

As time passed Aryn could feel his vision blur again, his temperature was rising pretty rapidly...normally that wasn't such a bad thing but not when he wasn't using his abilities. His breathing was becoming labored and he was sweating profusely, something was horribly wrong. Soon enough he could hear a ship docking with The Dragoon and he made his way wearily toward the docking bay, his balance was shit as he'd stumble from wall to wall...he didn't know who this person was but he knew that he needed medical attention and Nex had never steered him wrong before. His vision had gotten so bad by the time he'd reached the docking bay doors that he couldn't make anything out but a massive blur of color, he could see a white blob of color that was moving around that, in a slight state of delusion from his overheated brain, he'd mistaken for Emilia, he managed to smile at the blob of color before collapsing to the metal floor...everything went dark. His vision would cut in and out, he could see his past playing before him in fast forward and every so often could hear a voice hovering over his body...

"You're gonna be alright." Though the voice was faded and sounded like distant echoes it was clear enough to make out.

Aryn woke to find himself in much less pain, his chest was no longer on fire, his fever, though still present was much less intense, he found it a bit difficult to breath at times as his chest and lungs seemed to flare with pain whenever he'd do so. The wound across his chest had been clearly reopened and then stitched up for some reason, and cleaned before he was placed in his bed. It was as he lay there that his bedroom door opened to the presence of a rather lovely white wolf; she was a bit more femininely proportioned that Krystal, her body's curves were much more defined, there was a single blemish of dark fur that started above her right eye hooking down the side of her face like a sort of upside down L shape stopping just above the corner of her mouth, her eyes were a very deep dark green, and her very long hair was held back by a single small tie half way down it's length, she wore a pair of loose fitting black jeans that had a long wallet chain hanging along the right leg, and wore a rather tight fitting black tank top, her arms were deceptively tone for her size, she looked like she wasn't even as tall as Krystal...

"Whew you're awake...Nex was really worried about you." She said in a soft voice that belied her appearance.

"How long was I out?"

The white furred lupine looked to the ceiling in thought, "About a day....maybe a little longer." She said holding out a thermometer which the fox took under his tongue, "You did right sealing that cut as soon as you did...but, it was already infected when you did it. You kind of locked the infection under the surface of the wound and I had to sort of cut you back open to get that infection out." She said pulling the thermometer from his mouth, "Well good news...you're fever is almost gone, but, you should get a few days rest before you start moving around."

"No can do...sorry." Aryn said turning his head away from the she wolf.

"Hey...if you wanna get yourself killed...it's no fur off my ass. It's just friendly advice..." She shrugged.

Aryn chuckled a bit, he liked her spirit it felt familiar, "Sorry...but they have my friend. She's the only one I've got...and nobody fucks with my friends, and stays alive. Eric already had enough to pay for..."

The girl sighed, "Look I can understand that...I'd wanna help my friends too, but, if that wound opens at the wrong time...or the infection sets back in you're as good a fucked. Those kind of infections went out with the medieval ages, you running around playing with swords?"

Aryn looked to the weapon sitting in the corner of his room, "Something like that. Look, thank you for the help...I pretty much owe you my life, but regardless of my condition I have to help Krystal and Fox...I owe him my life too."

"You know you're just as much of a stubborn asshole as Nex said you were?" She stated half storming out of the room.

Aryn chuckled to himself, "Wow...what side of who's bed did she wake up on?"

After a bit of time Aryn tried his hardest to get out of bed...but, it was a no go his legs didn't much appreciate the idea of him trying to stand up at all...Aryn had little care for what his body told him however. Though it caused him great pain he stumbled out of his room, and slowly made his way to the bridge. Irea had only been in the hall for a few moments taking her time to relax for a moment. She sighed in irritation as she saw Aryn stumble idly down the halls, it was just like Nex had told her, there was nothing she could say or do that was going to keep the black fox in bed for any amount of time while his friend was in trouble. It was as she stood there that the lupine produced a small cell phone like device from her right pocked and held it up in front of her face after pressing a few buttons...

"Nex...this guy is impossible, if he keeps up that wound is gonna kill him."

"I am sorry Irea that is just the way he is...when a friend of his is in trouble, he'll put everything aside to help them..." Nex's voice echoed from the small com device, "Even his own health."

"He's as stubborn as a certain uncle I know..." She replied.

Nex's laughter boomed from the small device, "I'll take that as a compliment. Just do me a favor...stick around there and make sure the idiot doesn't get himself killed...and try not to be too hard on him, he's had it pretty rough."

"Yeah for how long?" Irea asked looking toward the fox who was still limping down the halls.

"Pretty much his whole life."

After some time of trudging painfully through the halls Aryn finally relaxed into his seat on the bridge, and secretly vowed never to get up again. He took in a few settling breaths before turning on the green screens in front of him, for a short while he simply sat there. He didn't like the idea that someone was more important to him now than killing Eric but, it was the way he'd always been, his friends were the most important thing in his life next to Emilia, and things were no different now. After a few more moments he patched in a familiar number, soon being met by Nex's face...

"Did you get the information?" He asked.

"Yes...I'm sending the data right now. Just remember that you're no good to anyone dead."

Aryn sighed a bit before looking to the old lizard, "I'm not dead yet...I can't die......not yet."

"Aryn...I've told Irea to stay with you for now. There's not telling how many hours you'll go without hurting yourself again." Nex said.

"Hours huh?" Aryn asked.

"Yes...hours...and that may be stretching things a bit."

The reptile cut the link after a bit longer, and Aryn simply sat there on the bridge for a while reading over the files that Nex had sent him it was a full record of all of the ships leaving Katina's orbit within the last few days. There was one in particular that had left orbit only an hour or so before Aryn's ship was recorded leaving the planet. The Lylat government didn't want anyone to know that they kept track and full record of every ship that entered or exited Cornerian Alliance territories...and this ship that left before his was the only one that made any sense in following, as opposed to most of the others it was headed away from Corneria...but there was nothing on this Albedo and Rubedo talk that Eric had gone on about. Aryn knew however that it was important, how else would he know the name that was on the tank he was placed in so many years ago? As he sat there stewing about it, his mind finally gave in and he turned his attention to something else. He referanced everything that Nex had sent him through the CHSA's major databases, another company that didn't want you to know they were keeping record of your travels. The ship in question registered for a warp jump to Papetoon of all places, a quiet, calm place.....

"Perfect place to hide another research facility." Aryn assured himself.

"NAV...get clearance and get us to Papetoon."

The bridge remained in silence for about a minute, "Clearance acquired...Jump time 4 minutes 32 seconds. ETA to destination 6 hours 23 minutes."

As Aryn exited the bridge Irea moved to one side of the hall to let him pass as he staggered down the hall, "Where are we going?" She asked.

"Papetoon..." Aryn answered in a flat tone before continuing down the hall toward the kitchen, "There are plenty of rooms on the ship...find one...and stay out of mine."

As the lone black fox sat there in the kitchen he watched the voids of space almost instantly be replaced by a stream of passing lights of every spectrum of color. As he sat there he looked around the empty, insanely quiet room...and for the first time in however long he didn't feel like he belonged in such a place. He wanted his friend back, she'd made it easier to go about the endless days in space, it wasn't until now, when she was finally gone that he realized...just how much he'd wanted someone to be there. It all made him think that much harder at what he had to do, Eric was no longer important at the time. Aryn realized that he didn't stand a chance against his brother, but at the very least he could get Krystal back and Fox as well. He didn't know Fox all that well...but, as he thought about it he really wouldn't mind getting to know the person that saved his life all those years ago. His only problem now was figuring out how he was going to pull this off while horribly injured, he thought hard and long on the subject...and unfortunately he only had about 6 hours to come up with something...


	19. Chapter 18:The Approach

**Author notes:**_I apologize for such a late update, but, as any reader of my stuff knows, Chains of Fate has been sucking me dry. Anyhow this marks the end of Footsteps, it may only last about two or three more chapters at the most...hopefully. I'll try to pound out the rest but, I have been a bit busy lately. Don't forget to R&R...Thanks for your support and patience..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox

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**Chapter 18**

The minutes seemed to last for days, Aryn was having a hard time with all of his injuries, but that didn't stop him from the only source of stress relief that he had...his training. Irea had other ways to relieving her stress levels, she had been trained by strict teachers of martial arts that prohibited her from fighting...being orphaned at a young age the she-wolf was trained by an old martial artist that lived in a hidden place on Zarr in Dan'jas. She instead was taught the importance of proper meditation, however, as she sat in the room she'd picked out across the hall from the training room she could hear the sound of the training room door hiss open before closing with a much similar sound. She let out a sigh of frustration. Aryn was going to kill himself at this rate before ever even making it to Papetoon. The lupine made her way out of her room stretching her neck, she wasn't sure how long she'd been meditating but, that often happened when she was so relaxed...it was as she stepped into the room that she noticed Aryn standing in the middle of the ring with a long curved sword. She was surprised however to see him begin to move about the ring in a very slow motion, as he whipped his weapon about in a sort of incredibly slow dance...it was then that she saw something, his eyes weren't open...he was meditating—in his own personal world. As she studied the fox's carefully placed movements, she sighed lightly...at least moving in that manner he wouldn't tear his stitches open…

"What do you want?" He asked in mid step.

"Just making sure you didn't screw up those stitches." Irea replied, "I don't wanna have to stitch you up again."

"You won't…" The dark furred vulpine assured her.

Irea thought to herself for a moment, "You're right, cuz if they open up again it's on your ass to fix it."

"I won't have to…" Aryn replied, "By that time Krystal will be here, she can fix this without even thinking about it."

"Then what the hell am I here for?" The white she wolf asked.

"Beats the hell out of me…leave whenever you feel like it." He replied turning toward the door, "NAV. How much longer?!"

"Approximately 1 hour 11 minutes ETA for Papetoon."

Aryn stopped at the door to stretch his neck, "Good, wake me up in an hour."

Iréa had never met anyone so stubborn in her entire life, she regretted saying he was as bad as Nex, because compared to him the old reptile was as submissive as a child. Finally after stewing over the moron with the death wish the pale furred she wolf stormed out of the training hall, making her way through the small ship toward the docking bay. She couldn't take it, and as soon as she was on board her own ship she set out a transmission to Nex who quickly answered…

"What is it Iréa?"

The poor Lupine swallowed back ever natural impulse she had to yell, "Uncle Nex, I can't stay with this fuck'n moron. He's got a death wish…"

Nex's chuckling voice was the only thing to emerge from the com system as she left visuals off, "I've known that for years." The reptile chuckled, "I'd be worried if he wasn't risking his life on a daily basis."

"That's not helping."

Nex went silent for a moment, "Fine…if you wanna leave him to die like that then go ahead. I won't stop you, but first. You're gonna listen to a little story that I've never told anyone, about a friend of mine……named Dravyn…"

**(Somewhere on Papetoon)**

Krystal woke up in the rather large arms of a chestnut furred vulpine who leaned against the wall behind him. She wasn't sure how but, she'd lost consciousness at some point. She managed to climb to her feet, but staggered a bit before grabbing the iron bars of the caged room she was held in. A small black seat a short ways in front of her swiveled away from the small array of computer terminals in front of it, showing another figure of Fox McCloud…

"What's you're fuck'n problem?" She snapped, "Afraid to show me your real face?"

In what seemed like little more than a few instances the vulpine morphed into the perfect image of his brother…

"I apologize…" He said, "…but. I've spent so much time in the skin of others that…to be honest, I cannot remember what I really used to look like." He stretched his neck for a moment, "It won't matter anyhow. _Citrinitas _ is already here, _Nigredo _is nearby, _Rubedo _is on his way, and _Albedo _is ready…"

Krystal snarled, "The _Opus Alchymicum_? Aryn was right you are out of your mind. It's just a myth, there's no truth to it at all. You killed your own brother's wife and unborn child to chase something that can't even be found…"

Eric chuckled, "I would have hoped a Cerinian of all people would understand what I'm trying to accomplish here. After all you're people searched their entire existence for the _Opus_…"

"And look where it got them…" Krystal pointed out, "I'm the only one left."

"True enough…but, they were missing something in the _Opus_ that they weren't even aware of. Something any Cerinian has but never bothers to think about. All the capabilities of another _Opus _are hidden right under that blue fur of yours, your DNA holds the secrets I need. The doctor came incredibly close when he created the procedure that made my brother and me what we are."

"Drayvn is nothing like you."

Eric chuckled, "Rubedo knows nothing about what he is. I'll show him what he is and what our destinies are. We will become one…"

Krystal smiled as she noticed something, "Not if you fight him fair again." She said, "He got you didn't he?"

Eric turned his face showing a long bandage trailing down the side of his muzzle. He trailed a claw along the light fabric with a smile…

"He's nearly ready…" Eric replied, "Once Drayvn realizes his true purpose…he'll be ready, and I assure you he will be ready before he gets here. He's already accepted what must happen. All the pieces have been set in place, and once the final scene is carried out, the two of you will go on living your lives in ignorant bliss of the truth…"

Krystal scoffed, "And what "truth" is that?"

"Life…is meaningless."

**(The Dragoon…)**

Iréa walked around the ship to familiarize herself a bit more with it; she found that the place had a gloomy air about it, as if the ship itself was sad, forcing it's feelings onto everyone aboard it. The white she-wolf had a hard time walking about the ship with it's halls as dark as Aryn seemed to keep them, every step made her feel like a small child lost in the dark. Several times she looked behind her, as she swore she had heard footsteps only to find nothing there. She sighed as she reminded herself that she was alone, as Aryn at the moment was in the ship's kitchen, where he'd been since he'd finished his training earlier. Despite the fact however, that the uneasy feeling didn't go away, she continued her trek through the lonely vessel's halls until she finally found herself at the ship's kitchen, she had a few things to tell Aryn. Fortunately, Nex had talked her into staying, she didn't know how; Maybe she felt sorry for him after hearing Nex's story. Whatever the reason, she had decided to stay regardless.

Irea stepped toward the kitchen door causing it to hiss open, but she instantly froze in place. She wasn't certain what she was seeing, but, she was certain that it had to be her eyes messing with her. Aryn sat at one of the large room's tables, with his face resting against his arms hiding his face from sight. This however was not what startled the pale furred Lupine, rather it was the slightly faded vision of a gorgeous white furred vixen wearing a long white gown, standing just over his right shoulder. She seemed to look down on the dark furred vulpine with saddened eyes and a hurt expression on her face as he seemed to pay no heed to her stroking his head. For a brief moment the vixen tilted her sight toward the one that had entered the room, before looking back to Aryn and simply fading into the air itself. In disbelief of what she'd just seen, Iréa rubbed her eyes and looked back to Aryn who'd not left his current position. The white wolf found herself on the bridge only moments later with an image of Nex listening to everything she had to say…

"You never said anything about a haunted ship…"

Nex chuckled, "Aren't you a bit old to believe in ghost stories?"

"Listen, I know what I saw. She looked just like that girl you told me about…Ummm…Emilia."

"Are you sure?"

"When Have I ever lied to you?" Iréa asked, "I know what I saw and I saw a white vixen standing right next to him. Then in the next moment she was gone."

Nex thought for a moment, "Well…I'm not surprised. Aryn puts a lot of pressure on himself, he's blamed himself for her death for as long as I can remember." He said, "Maybe holding in all this pain is causing her to stay here. She always said that when he hurts, she hurts…maybe she wasn't kidding."

Iréa thought to herself for a moment, "She looked……so sad standing there. Like she wanted to cry, but, couldn't."

**(15 years ago)**

_It was a more than beautiful day on Corneria; a midsummer's day , a day that seemed to make life itself more wonderful simply by living in that moment. Far outside the city, in a small forested area, two young lovers lay out in the sun on the shores of a small crystal clear lake. Aryn instantly recalled the day he was reliving and had no intentions of fighting it off. He simply watched._

_The younger version of himself lay there with a perfect vision of beauty in his arms, the two simply enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms. Emilia lay with her muzzle tucked under his with her eyes closed. It would have been impossible to tell how long the two had been in that position, they were completely in their own world, nothing else mattered or existed as far as they were concerned. The vixen let out a content sigh as she nuzzled his neck a bit…_

"_Drayvn?" She said checking if he was asleep or not._

"_What?" He lightly replied._

_Emilia smiled at the sound of his voice, "Do you love me?"_

_Drayvn sighed with a large smile of his own, "I love you Emilia…" He answered, "More than anything."_

_Emilia smiled, "I'm still a little nervous…." She said fiddling with a small gold band on her ring finger._

"_Don't worry…" Drayvn said, "We can keep the wedding a secret…just don't wear that ring around the team or the General."_

"_I don't know who we can trust anymore Dee…." Emilia changed the subject, "All of their thoughts are cut off from mine anymore…and the Generals thoughts are completely jumbled, like there's something blocking them out."_

"_Just keep your mind focused on next month…" Drayvn warned her, "Then we'll be off of this rock. Katina may not be that far from Black Star but, it's as far as we could make it with what we have. I'm sure we can keep them off out tails long enough to find a home outside of Lylat somewhere."_

_With that said the black furred vulpine kissed Emilia on the top of her muzzle, "How long have we been out here?" She asked with a light chuckle._

_Drayvn hugged the vixen a bit tighter to him as he closed his eyes, "Who cares?"_

_~//~_

Aryn lifted his head from the table in front of him and scouted the room a bit; for some reason he always felt like he was being watched when he was aboard the Dragoon. He leaned back in his chair, looking to the ceiling with a sigh as he realized he'd fallen asleep…

"At least they can't all be nightmares…"

Suddenly a voice broke through the ship's PA system, "Captain…approaching final destination Papetoon. ETA 22 minutes 46 seconds." NAV Said, "Current time of targeted landing zone is; 11:06pm, and it is currently 45.6 degrees Fahrenheit with an 85 percent chance of rain and snow. Warm wearing is advised."

"We won't be staying long just put us down as soon as possible."

As he said this a white wolf entered the room with a folder, "Uncle Nex asked me to bring you this while you were sleeping. He found some suspicious shit down on Papetoon's surface…said it might help you."

Drayvn thought for a moment as Iréa set the folder down in front of him, "Why are you helping me?"

Iréa smirked a bit, "Honeslty? I don't know." She replied.

Drayven scoffed, "Fine…" He replied, "Then maybe you really can help me a bit down there."


	20. Chapter 19:The Forgiven Flame

**Author Notes:**_ Okay, so I decided to finish off this fic before continuing work on anything else. It's only got like literally four or five chapters left. I'll also start work on another Sonic fic for those of you who liked Tails's Luck, called **Dream of Absolution** but, it won't start until I feel content with where I sit with my other works. If you know where the title came from you probably know who it's about. Anyhow, thanks for the constant support, Don't forget to R&R, and I'll have chapter 20 up ASAP._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox

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**Chapter 19**

Aryn couldn't remember how long it had been since the last time he'd been on Papetoon. He didn't care how long it'd been either but, found himself asking how long it'd been anyhow. He and Iréa stayed in a single room in a small, drab hotel. After a bit of time Iréa realized that the dark furred vulpine had been eating an awful lot. He also seemed to refuse to move from the small room's bed. The pale furred she wolf that sat at the room's small table scoffed…

"Look you've been eating a whole lot…and I'm not even sure why you wanted me to bring a defibrillator and a shot of adrenalin…" She said, "But any kinky shit you can leave me out of."

Aryn rolled his eyes, "Don't flatter yourself sweetheart…I'd prefer my own paw." He replied, "Those are to be safe, what I'm about to do can be pretty fucking dangerous."

"What do you mean?" Iréa asked scooting her seat closer to the bed a bit interested in what he was saying.

Aryn swallowed a large bit of food he'd been chewing, "No single instance that we know of, has a psychic only displayed one ability…their primary skill is always tied to another, weaker one."

Iréa thought for a moment, "Well, Nex told me that you could control fire."

"Right…" Aryn replied, "That would be my strongest ability…see at Black Star they realized how powerful my pyrokenisis was…it was all they cared about, whatever destruction I could dish out…."

"So then what's your other ability?"

Aryn sighed as he sat down the large sandwich he'd been eating, "Astral Projection…"

Iréa donned a confused look, "Astral what?"

Aryn chuckled to himself, "Projection…think of it more as…forcing my soul out of my body for a prolonged period of time."

"That sounds pretty fucking dangerous to me." Iréa replied.

"Ya think?" Aryn asked sarcastically, "Stay out there in the Nether too long and you could get excommunicated from your body…the Nether is a confusing place."

"Then why do I have these things?" She asked pointing out the Defibrillator and syringe.

"I Projected once a long time ago, my body couldn't handle the stress, and for about two minutes my heart stopped." He replied, "The others in the team managed to pull me back but, I swore I'd never do this again."

"Then why do it?" Iréa asked.

"I learned something when I was Projected…" Aryn said, "Psychic ability seems to have some sort of connection with the Nether. I can see the energy psychics give off, like an intense light, if you were there you could swear to god you could feel it from a mile away."

"Aryn…" Iréa asked, "I know you stopped living last time you did this but, why did you swear you wouldn't do it again?"

"I was just afraid of what I might see this time…" He replied, "But, now I don't seem to have a choice. We've got a very narrow span of time and I can't wait any longer to find Kursed and McCloud before Eric finds whatever it is he's looking for. With Kursed, Eric, and the entire Black Star squadron there…wherever they are…It'll be lit up like fucking daybreak."

As Aryn lay back on the bed Iréa began to set up her things in case she would be needed, "How long do you think you'll be in there?"

"Don't know…" Aryn replied, "Just keep an eye on my breathing…if it stops, pull me out…fast."

Iréa was liking the sound of this less and less the more she heard about it, "Look…you be careful in there…you're pretty important to Uncle Nex, and those two being held need you alive."

"Yeah…" Aryn said closing his eyes as his head contacted the soft pillow of the bed, "…thanks."

~//~

_It only took an instant before Aryn stood up rolling out of bed. He took a few breaths and turned to the bed he was laying in. He could still see himself laying there; it was and eerie sort of feeling to see himself like that, his black fur instead replaced by an entire body of red wavering light. Iréa stood by the now green luminescent form of the she wolf scanned over Aryn's vitals as he lay there motionless. As he looked around he noted that the place he was in was no different, accept that the world seemed to be bland, and blank of all color, any being of life seemed to be created of only luminescent bodies of light that housed the form of whatever animal or being they had belonged too. He sighed a bit before simply stepping toward the small room's wall passing through it like it wasn't even there. He hated the outside world when he was in this state, it remined him too much of death; there was no color, to anything that should have had color and lines and silhouettes seemed to smear and fade, riding on a wind that wasn't there, and the clouds above him swirled into a seemingly endless vortex that could only lead to the afterlife as far as he knew, or cared…He had seen it once before, but feared to look at it now…_

_Aryn simply kept his head level, in a ghostly fashion, flew off into the city. He didn't bother moving to dodge anything, rather he simply floated right through whatever there was in his way…_

"_Lets see…" He said to himself, "Nex's report mentioned something about the Vextor Estate building in the Delling District…best start there."_

_It seemed to take no time at all to actually reach his destination, but, unfortunately he could only see signs of animals with abilities that were most likely unaware that they were even different. When he couldn't find what he was looking for, Aryn levitated upward until the entire city was visible to him. Everything in the area looked no different; this was the problem with the Nether, it was far too easy to get himself lost, with no color to anything it was a simple mistake to see one building for another. As he scanned the landscape however his eyes caught something in the far distance. It looked like some sort of structure build on a lake, and there were more lights there than he cared to try counting…_

"_Wow…if that's not it…I'll kiss my own ass."_

_Taking no more chances with staying projected any longer, Aryn rushed off toward his body. However, several minutes passed and he found himself with a slight problem…_

"_I'm lost…" He told himself in disbelief, "FUCK!! If I would have just stayed on the fuck'n ground!!"_

_Aryn shot about from one place to another, in a panic; he couldn't find his body anywhere and was certain that he was running out of time. Luckily, as he passed another building he felt a familiar presence, it was his body, and he quickly made his way back to the room where he could see Iréa furiously pumping at his chest with her paws, apparently he'd already stopped breathing. He was just about to reach for his body, when something caused him to freeze. A familiar touch on his shoulder…_

"_Dee…" An angelic voice lingered through the eerily quiet scene._

_He couldn't bring himself to turn around and face what he knew was there, "Emilia?"_

_His mind completely left the scene of Iréa trying her hardest to bring him back, as he felt a pair of soft paws wrap around him, it was a feeling he had missed for more than 10 years…_

"_Stop blaming yourself Drayvn…" She said, "…don't cage yourself up, don't do to yourself what they did to you all those years ago." Her paws slowly moved to the shackles on his wrists, "I know why you wear them. It wasn't your fault…"_

_He'd never known he could cry in this state but, as his tears fell he looked to her paws, "But…I…I let you die."_

"_Drayvn…you gave me the happiest years of my life…" She replied, "I have no regrets…neither should you. Take them off…stop burdening yourself with the guilt that you don't deserve." She said, "Just remember that I love you….and I'll be waiting here for you, no matter how long it takes…I'll always love you…."_

_All of a sudden he could feel the vixen's paws push him from behind causing him to stumble into his body…._

Iréa was shocked as Aryn's body shot upright reaching out for someone that wasn't there…

"EMILIA!!!" He screamed before realizing that he was back in the land of the living.

"Hey…" Iréa said, "You okay? I've been trying to make you breath for the last 3 minutes."

Aryn sat there for a bit, staring at his paws. One of them reached up removing the key from around his neck…

"Did you find them?" Iréa asked.

"I'm pretty sure of it…yeah." He said staring at the key and shackles,

"Where are they?" The pale furred wolf asked.

"Just outside of the city…there's some kind of building out on the lake."

Iréa thought for a moment, "Hmm…Fort Benning. Used to be a live munitions site. Why would anyone want to go there?"

"Exactly…" Aryn said unlocking one of his shackles and allowing it to fall heavily to the floor, "I have to eat something." He said breathing heavily.

"You were only gone for an hour…" Iréa replied.

Aryn finally dropped his other shackle and began to rub his wrists, which had not been exposed to open air in ages, "I'll explain later…Astral Projection has more down sides than ups."

Aryn took none of his precious time to bother savoring what food he was given; his ability was a lot like his Pyrokinesis, it took a heavy toll on his body, which was damaged enough as it was. However, he found that he somehow felt better, better than he'd felt in years since waking up. As if an entire world's worth of weight had been lifted from his burden, he could breath again, and even thought he was alone now, he could understand that he would never really be alone as long as he chose not to. He felt somewhat horrible for what he'd done over the years, he'd ignored everything that Emilia would have ever wanted for him, for the sake of his own single minded revenge…he was never doing it for her, he was doing it to take the blame off of himself, to weaken the crushing guilt that he felt and forced onto himself for letting the only person he'd ever truly loved die, for loosing his unborn child, and most of all for being too weak to protect them. He realized most of all now, that his main priority was to save Krystal and Fox, before his brother ruined what chances they might have at a future…the way he had Emilia and Drayvn's…

Drayvn. It was something he'd not called himself in over a decade, it was his name, but, it was a name he'd declared himself unfit to carry as it was the name of the man that Emilia had loved. Drayven was simply a man he no longer deserved to be. It was as he reached into his pocket that he removed a small pair of metal dog tags and looked over them. The one marked with his name had a deep scratch across it's face, whereas Emilia's was kept polished and cleaned and shined like a new shining piece of jewelry…

"What are those for?" Iréa asked as Aryn slid them around his neck, he ignored the words, "Aryn?"

"Memories…" The black vulpine finally replied, "..and call me Drayvn."

The two made their way out of the city by foot as the walk was not much, and a car would serve little purpose when crossing a lake, he was also certain that one would make very little difference in the end, as there would be no running away this time…he would confront Eric and finally end everything. It was as they ran along the streets that Iréa looked over to Drayvn, who's only weapon for this entire fight was a single sword strapped to his belt…

"I can feel him…Eric is definitely there…" He said.

Iréa thought for a moment as she looked to the intense focus in his eyes, "There's something different about you…" She said, "Are you feeling alright?"

Drayvn looked to the white she wolf and smile, "I feel better than I have in over ten years."

"Nex would be happy to see you like this…"

Drayvn chuckled, "Probably…but, we've got work to do and I'm gonna need your help to do it. You a good swimmer? Cause it's the only quick way to the middle of that lake without being spotted. I'd rather kill Eric without being noticed."

As they stopped at the beautiful lake's edge Sol began to set behind the hills causing the entire area to go dark several small floodlights keeping the small factory lit…

"You really mean to kill your own brother?" Iréa asked.

Drayvn took a deep breath, "He killed me first. He killed everything I was, and everything I ever loved. Even if I realize that my own reasons were wrong…" He said looking to Iréa, "I will make him pay. What would you do if you were in my position? I know Nex told you…"

Iréa smiled, "I think I'd be standing right where you are right now."

"Good. Now lets go…I'm not sure how much time we have left."

**~//~**

The swim was exhausting, thought not unbarrable, Iréa found that opposed to what she'd believed, the waters were actually quite warm near the dark fox. He found that the facility they were headed for was much larger than he'd originally thought; it was lined with tall razor wire fencing, and there were large stacks of objects covered with large tarps. The grounds on the inside of the fence seemed oddly devoid of any signs of life, but, this was something that Drayvn had expected. As they approached the fence Iréa reached out to it only to have Drayvn pull her arm back…

"You wanna keep this arm?" He asked picking up a small stick which he tossed against the metal wire which instantly burst into flame, "There's enough electricity in that fence to power a small ship. Eric isn't trying very hard to keep me out."

Drayvn opened his right palm toward the chain link fencing which made an odd hissing sound before glowing white hot and slowly melting away in a large circular opening, which he then stepped through, waving Iréa to follow him…

"Don't step on the metal…It'll eat the shoes right off your feet."

Iréa stepped through the large hole, "That's an amazing ability…" She said, "Is it always hot or can you turn it off?"

"It's kinda like a kiln…" Drayvn replied, "Gotta get the fire going first…but, heating up such a weak metal is pretty easy. Unfortunately our bodies aren't equipped to handle the kind of heat I put out and eventually it can get to me." He said, "I've gotten pretty used to it thought."

As the two looked around the large shipping yard, covered with machinery that hadn't seen work in years, Iréa noticed something wrong, "This place seems a little deserted to me." She said, "Holding Fox McCloud captive, you'd think these people would try harder to protect themselves."

Suddenly Drayvn's ears perked up against the wind, "Iréa…hide."

"What? Why?" She quickly asked.

"Just do it!!" The dark furred fox shouted.

Sensing a bit of desperation in his voice, Iréa rushed off to hide behind a large forklift, as Drayvn slowly walked out into the open. Once in the open light he removed the gray vest he wore tossing it aside, leaving only a white tank top covering his chest. She hadn't noticed before but, Drayvn was packing more than a sword; standing out against the slightly baggy legs of his green and black camo pants was a long black sheath that almost blended into his combat boots perfectly, as well as a second across the back of his belt. She wasn't certain whether or not he was carrying a blaster or gun of any kind but, then again with his abilities did he really need one? She simply stood by and waited to see what it was that had the black furred vulpine's senses on end, she herself could smell something different in the air but, it was an unfamiliar smell that she couldn't place…

"Come on out!" Drayvn called, "Eric sent you for a reason didn't he?! Drake right?!" He asked.

In an instant a large metal drum flew toward him, it collided with Drayvn's fist only to burst into a flying barrage of deadly shrapnel…

"I had a feeling that you were nowhere near full strength when we met in the desert…" A chillingly calm voice carried on a slight wind that blew through the area, "You were taken out far too fast for someone with your reputation in Black Star."

"Psychokinetic…" Drayvn said, "Not a very common ability…even outside of the project."

The unseen assailant chuckled, "That's what the scientists all said, they also tried to use me like a fucking lab rat….I showed them thought. You should never fuck with someone who can freeze your insides. You have no idea how painful it is for your lungs to freeze over while you're still breathing."

"I have nothing against you kid…" Drayvn said, "Raven, Rose, Mashif, and Eric are the only ones I want. They've dodged death for the last time."

"So have you…"

Drayvn leaped away from his place only to have the ground freeze over in an instant, Psychokinesis was almost the exact opposite of his own power, allowing the user to not only levitate things and toss them with incredible force, but to freeze the very moisture in any object, even the air itself. It was as Drayvn stood there that his attacker stepped out of the shadows; it had been a long while since the blue scaled Drogan had first attacked him in the desert so long ago, he recalled how cold the ice encasing his body was, instantly numbing him to the bone. He still stood there however, every ability had it's weakness and this reptile's was no exception. He had to admit that like most other animal's he'd fought, Drayvn expected the young animal to stand there for a moment, but, instead the reptile rushed in on the dark furred vulpine. Drayvn knew that he couldn't keep his pace with the young Drogan, especially not in the beaten state Eric had left him in. As Drake attempted to land a powerful punch, Drayvn retaliated with one of his own causing their fists to meet. The Impact caused a muffled burst of sound to shoot out into the area as the reptile leaped away from the black fox,; he looked to his fingers, which had been mangled by the impact braking several of them. The Drogan interlaced his fingers pulling on the broken appendages until they all popped back into their proper places…

"Contained thermal explosion…" Drake smiled, "No wonder why Eric said to watch out for you. " He said, "When you can literally make ever punch explode on impact."

"Just leave……" Drayvn said, "This is your last warning."

"You know what?" Drake asked, "You talk an awful lot for being the same bloodthirsty animal I saw back on that wasteland of a rock. Or are you the same at all? Something's changed about you…you have none of the passion that you had before. It's almost like you truly don't want to kill any of us…but, that's just a crock, "You're the exact same as any number of us…my powers may have developed of their own natural cause, but, that doesn't make you and me any different. We were born and bred for war; we are all weapons and that's all we'll ever be…"

As the drogan said this his arms laid over with a thin coat of ice, "If you really want to die for something you're not a part of…" Drayvn replied as light blue flames scaled up his arms stopping just before his shoulders, "…then I'm just gonna have to kill you."

In an instant attack, a large ball of ice flew toward Drayvn, he'd never known the animal could project his power in such a way. However, as Drayvn dodged the attack he felt a sharp pain in his leg, only to find an icicle lodged in his thigh; it was a small shard of ice but, large enough to hurt. The burst of ice had been no more than thousands of tiny ice shards like the one jutting from the vulpine's thigh. In an instant Drayvn leaped to his feet throwing an intensely hot ball of fire hurling toward the reptile, which only met with another ball of the small ice shards which both burst into little more than vapors. Realizing that his vulpine opponent was injured, Drake rushed in toward Drayvn throwing a punch that struck the fox in the side of the face causing him to stumble back. Drayvn's entire face felt as through it had instantly gone numb from the attack. He was freezing the moisture of Drayvn's skin on impact, which was easily cured by heating up his body. As the animal stepped forward again he threw several more punches that the black furred fox managed to dodge, until Drake spun on his heels swinging his tail in and striking Drayvn in the shoulder. An instant shot of pain coursed through Drayvn's body, as Drake backed off. It was now that Drayvn noticed that there was a large ball of icicles frozen to the end of the animal's tail which lashed about a bit behind him. Drayvn's face contorted into a snarl of rage, he'd given Drake every chance to walk away, but the kid seemed obsessed with his own death. A thin barrier of ice shot up in front of the Drogan as a short stream of flames collided with it for a few moments only to have it suddenly stop…

"And what was that supposed to be?" The young animal chuckled.

Drayvn sighed, "A diversion." He replied.

In an instant the reptile noticed the shadow that was growing around his body; he looked up in one last instance, to see that the black fox had destroyed the cable of an old crane holding a huge rectangular container overhead. The impact of the 4 ton object slamming into the ground kicked up a mass of dust, which cleared away only to show that Drake had used his powers to erect to massive towers of ice, one to his right and left that had just barely managed to catch the falling structure a few feet from his body…

Drake found his way to his feet, and the ice that had formed over his arms retreated to his fists forming what appeared to be long blades. He let out a loud yell as he bolted toward Drayvn, if he let this fight carry on any longer there was no doubt that the fox would indefinitely kill him, but, as he drove forward Drayvn dropped his left should back causing the stabbing motion of the Drogan's right arm to graze his arm. As Drayvn drove his fist into the animal's chest, the flames of his arm instantly retreated into his fist and burst forward on impact, causing a small explosion of power to strike the reptile's chest, the mechanics of the attack working on the same principle of a Backdraft, suffocating the flames for a mild second before giving them an intense rush of oxygen to cause a small explosion. The impact caused the Drogan to scream in pain spatting blood onto the vulpine's face before his body was launched back into the metal structure that had nearly killed him forming a large dent in the surface of the container. The young reptile slid down to his feet, blood rushing from his mouth and nose and there was clearly internal damages done by the powerful attack. Drake attempted to take a step forward only to collapse to one knee, he looked to Drayvn one last time before trying to say something; the only thing that fell from the animal's lips was a thick spat of blood before his body finally collapsed to the rocky ground…

Iréa rushed out as soon as she noticed the reptile wasn't getting back up, "You okay?" She asked inspecting the shards lodged into his leg and shoulder.

"You tell me…" He replied, "They hit anything important?"

As she studied the injuries the white wolf sighed, "No…this one came close though…" She replied pointing at his shoulder, "You might wanna be more careful next time."

"What about him?" Drayvn asked growling in pain as he pulled the shard of ice from his shoulder.

Iréa inspected the downed enemy; the Drogan's eyes were wide open, but there was no life to his ice cold body…

"That explosion…or punch…" She said.

"Little bit of both…" Drayvn replied.

Iréa looked back to the fox, "Well whatever it was. It destroyed his rib cage, and crushed his lungs completely, I'm surprised he was even able to stand up at all after the attack."

Drayvn took a moment to catch his breath, "It's his own fault thought…I warned him." He said, "Come on…we gotta find those two lovebirds before Eric turns 'em into guinea pigs. And there's four more freaks like him between me and Eric."


	21. Chapter 20:Never Say Die

**Chapter 20**

Drayvn and Iréa both headed into the massive structure leaving Drake's body where it lay. The inside of the facility was like any other munitions dump; there were drums full of god only knows what chemicals stacked along the walls, deactivated warheads lay about the rooms covered with tarps, the dark furred vulpine could only imagine that the facility dug underground. The two animals stopped for a brief moment as Drayvn called for Iréa to stop. He grunted in pain as he found a place to lean against the wall…

"You gonna be alright?" Iréa asked, "You don't look so good."

The black furred vulpine took a deep breath, "I think so…" He replied, "Lost a lot of blood back there. Feel'n kinda dizzy."

Iréa quickly looked over the animal's wounds, "Well…the bleeding's stopped."

"Huh…" Drayvn scoffed, "Best news I've heard all day." He said, "So you know anything about this place?"

Iréa thought for a moment, "All I know is that this place was build during the Lylat Wars, as a means of replacing a similar site that the Venomians took over, which Star Fox destroyed…"

"You mean the base on Macbeth?" The vulpine asked.

"Right…I know it's divided into three sections…but, other than that I don't know squat."

Drayvn though for a moment, "Well lets get moving…we'll learn the layout of this place as we go."

Drayvn could already tell that he didn't like this place, there were too many blind corners, and it felt oddly familiar to him, like he'd been there before. He found that he was effortlessly moving through the halls, it unsettled him that the place would come off as so familiar without him knowing it…but, altogether things had stopped making sense to him a long time ago. He made certain that his senses were on end, after all there were four more animals like Drake in this place, and most of them were much stronger than the Drogan was…especially the freak he'd seen the day Eric had attacked him and taken Krystal and Fox away. It was as he moved around a final corner that he held up his paw to stop Iréa…

"What is it?" She asked.

Drayvn studied the area for a moment, "This place's galley…someone's in there."

The small door slid open to the once busy galley; it was a much larger room that Drayvn had expected, with many tables and seats, he could only imagine how many people used to maintain this facility. As the two cautiously walked into the room a red furred vixen stumbled out of the kitchen area with a bottle of some kind in her paw, her steps were staggering and she seemed to have trouble standing up. She nearly tripped over several chairs before she gave up and sat down. Her ears perked up against a sound in the room, and she took a feint sniff of the air…

"I guess……Drake's dead huh?" She mumbled, "So I'm next?"

Drayvn stepped out of the shadows signaling for Iréa to stay where she was, "I thought you quit drinking years ago Rose. How long?"

"Since I watched……my best friend die…" She replied.

Drayvn took a seat across from the half drunk vixen, "Why'd you do it?"

"The general…" She paused, "What does it matter? I don't……deserve to live. Not after what we did. I guess jealousy was a main part of why…" She said, "I always liked you Dee…but, Emm was the only thing on your mind any time of the day."

Drayvn sighed as he reached to his left leg, he lay a small pistol on the table; it was an old revolver with a pearl handle and a gold cylinder, with the name Emilia inlaid on the handle.

"I guess…" She said staring at the gun, "If anyone is going to kill me, I'm glad that it's you."

Drayvn thought for a moment, "I'm not gonna kill you Rose…" He said sliding the gun across the table, "I don't think I could ever hurt you, even after what happened." He said, "That was Emilia's favorite gun, you and I bought that for her birthday remember?"

Rose lay her paw on top of the pistol, "I…remember." She said picking it up and examining it, "Is it…too late to apologize?"

"There was a time when I would have said yes…" He replied, "But, no. It's never too late to apologize, but, I'm not really the one you need to apologize to…"

"Eric…he's in the east block of the facility." Rose said, "But, he's got everything blocked off. The only way there is through west block, and Maxwell is supposed to be there waiting for you…I think he intends to make you fight McCloud too…" She said, "He's got a little fox girl locked up in the barracks in east block…I don't know who she is but he claims she's McCloud's daughter…"

Drayvn thought for a moment, "Daughter? I'll have to look into that, but, first. This Maxwell guy, what is his power?"

"I don't know…he never really says much. He just does what Eric tells him." She replied, "All I've ever seen him do is turn into that big metal thing…he's strong, but, for some reason when he's like that he gets winded really easily." The red vixen looked to Iréa before looking back to the pistol in her paw, "Now get out of here…and promise me that you won't let Eric beat you this time."

Drayvn stood up and signaled for Iréa to follow him out of the room, the pale furred Lupine was however hesitant to turn her back on an enemy holding a weapon. She still followed after Drayvn until they left the room where the black furred fox stopped for a moment and lowered his head…

"Goodbye Rose." He whispered softly before walking away.

"Are you crazy?" Iréa half shouted walking backward while standing in front of him, "She could tell everyone that you're here… and……"

Iréa cut herself off as she heard the cannon like gunshot of the pistol that Drayvn had left with Rose…

Drayvn sighed deeply, "Rose made her peace…just let her be. We have real problems to deal with. I'm not sure how hard it'll be dealing with this Maxwell character, but, I'm pretty sure he won't go as quietly as she did."

"She said we have to go through the west block to get to the east side of the facility…I think I saw a sign a ways down the hall that mentioned west block." Iréa replied, "Come on it was this way."

Drayvn and Iréa rushed back down the hall the way they'd come, and after a short run they found themselves near another hall. The next hall however gave Drayvn a bad feeling in the pit of his gut, which caused him to place on Iréa's chest stopping her…

"You feel that?" He asked.

Iréa slapped his paw away from her chest, "Yeah……and they happen to belong to me, paws off."

"Get a grip…" Drayvn said, "No that…like a sort of pressure weighing down on your mind, almost like a headache. I felt like this once before, but, it was a long time ago, we're being watched…by an old friend." The vulpine said looking about the room.

"What?" Iréa asked.

Drayvn shook his head, "Forget it…Lets just go."

The two animals rushed off down the hall, still something nagged at Drayvn's mind, something was seriously wrong about this whole situation…of course he knew that Eric had things set up in case he came, but, it felt more like he wanted his brother there…that these little road blocks were set up on purpose. He couldn't understand why Eric would go through such elaborate measures to make Drayvn fight the other members of Black Star; maybe it was just to weaken the black furred vulpine up before attempting to fight Drayvn himself. Not to mention there was the slight possibility that Rose was right, and the kit held in the barracks really was McCloud's daughter. Then this entire thing could get a lot worse, after all he was here to save McCloud, not fight him. It seemed Eric had planned just about every aspect of this little meeting out, every little detail seemed to have been covered.

The end of the hall led into what appeared to be a massive storeroom; it was dark, far too dark to see anything, "I can't see anything…" Iréa said, "It's dark as hell in here."

Drayvn sighed, "Yeah, no kidding. Hang on." He said.

There was a small flicker of light before a small space around them began to glow a light blue from the flames that burst from his arm, climbing his forearm and rising off of his fist like a small torch…

"Huh…" Iréa half laughed, "Thanks."

As the two looked about the large room Drayvn noticed that the place was covered with tall metal shelves stacked over with boxes, and large metal drums lay against the walls, some of which bore very disturbing labels. Iréa moved about the room staying within the radius of Drayvn's flames…

"What kinda room is this?" She asked.

Drayvn approached a large drum and examined the labels on it, "It's a storehouse, an illegal one at that. This drum has nuclear materials in it." He said standing up quickly moving his flame away from the barrel.

"Wait a minute…" Iréa said, "Nuclear weapons were banned by the Trinity Accord over 300 years ago, when the humans had their first nuclear war."

"Right…" Drayvn replied, "We saw what that did to Earth, and didn't want that to happen here, but, who in the government would be making nukes again…they aren't even that powerful compared to modern weaponry."

"I think maybe it's a bit more fear of what it would do to the land itself…" Iréa replied, "There's still not a weapon in creation more feared than an atomic bomb. It's technology has been outdated for more than a millennium, but, in terms of fear itself, there's nothing like it."

"I guess you're right…" Drayvn replied, "After all, nukes don't just destroy target enemies, they ravage everything, land, air…life itself, they can make an entire place completely devoid of life."

"This has to be reported to the proper authorities…" Iréa said, "They could still be making these things."

"No…it has to be reported, but not to the authorities; I'll leave it to McCloud, he'll know the best place to take the information." Drayvn said, "Just one of those things could destroy the Trinity Accord, and start a war."

As the two walked a bit further along the large shelves Iréa shrieked in surprise as Drayvn pushed her to one side; she hadn't even heard the heavy footsteps that were approaching them when whatever it was ran into Drayvn plowing through the wall nearest to them. Iréa waved her paw in front of her face attempting to clear away the dust in the air that was making her cough uncontrollably. She finally stood up to find a massive hole missing in the wall, the concrete wall was crumbling slightly but, still holding up. She looked outside to see a black fox laying on the ground cradling his ribs as a large otter with what appeared to be metallic fur lumbered toward him. Iréa thought for a moment as she watched on; Drayvn was rolling about on the ground with his arms wrapped about his ribs, he finally rolled onto his back where he let out a enraged scream. The lumbering, metal otter stepped forward and rose one foot over Drayvn's head; however as soon as the animal brought down his foot, the black furred vulpine's paws caught the massive animal's foot. Iréa could only imagine what the pressure was doing to Drayvn's clearly injured ribs as he let out a scream of pain before managing to push the large animal away. Drayvn rolled away from Maxx and onto his feet where he grimaced in pain as he kept one paw grasping at his ribs…

"Maxwell?" He asked in a pained voice, his opponent simply bowed his head lightly while holding his arms out to his sides, "Interesting ability you've got there."

"You killed Rose…" The otter replied.

"Not quite, the guilt killed her before I could." Drayvn said wincing a bit in pain, "I'll give you the same chance I gave Drake. You have nothing to do with this so get the fuck outta my way…and you'll live to see your next birthday."

The otter chuckled, "You think that killing us will make you feel any better for what happened to your happy little family?"

"This isn't about me feeling better……" Drayvn replied finally standing up against the pain in his side, "It's about knowing that the ones that took her from me know just how badly they fucked up, as soon as they laid a paw on her."

"Awe…that's very chivalrous of you." Maxx taunted the angry vulpine, "But Eric saved my life. If you're gonna kill him, you're going through me first…"

Maxx stood there for a moment, he expected to see something, a flame, a spark, anything having to do with the fox's powers. However, the only sign of any kind of offense was the long blade that Drayvn pulled from it's sheath. The otter smiled, how could the fox possibly hope to beat a metal skinned animal with nothing more than a sword? Maxx rushed in as fast as his body would allow, however he found that Drayvn's movements, despite his painfully injured ribs, were still quite swift. He felt two distinctive and potentially lethal strikes from the metal blade, one across his chest, whereas the other chimed off of the side of his neck. The metallic otter quickly shot about, catching Drayvn's shirt, tearing it free as he whipped the helpless vulpine into the air with an ogerish strength that flung the poor animal several yards away, into a chain link fence. Drayvn struggled to climb to his feet, barely managing to use his sword to hold up his weight. As he finally stood, supported by his own two feet, the young, dark furred vulpine's arms again burst into intensely hot flames…

Maxx looked on with a smile, he'd never seen Drayvn's ability for himself, only heard of it. He admitted to himself that the blue flames were beautiful, but, he knew that with such a bright color came intense heat. He raised his head slightly and held out his arms, presenting his chest as an open target…Drayvn quickly took it. The ball of flames that shot from Drayvn's paws was powerful enough to force the metal creature's body to slide back a bit, but, it did little more than that. The hit was completely ineffective on the otter, who again darted forward this time managing to grasp the vulpine by the neck slamming his body into a nearby wall. Iréa gasped in shock as she watched Drayvn's body press through the stone wall, and looked on with increasing horror as the vulpine's limp body was tossed back from the large hole he and the metal otter had created. Drayvn could hardly move, his insides felt as thought they'd been dashed into a thousand pieces, and merely breathing was bringing him endless trails of agony. He opened his mouth only to watch a small pool of blood trickle to the ground in front of him. It seemed to take forever to climb to his feet this time, but, Maxx watched on with intrigue, it seemed that, no matter how many bones he broke then animal simply wouldn't stay down. Drayvn stumbled a bit hardly catching himself before the otter charged, Drayvn in step simply readied his sword for the impact that was to come…

Iréa watched on only hoping that Drayvn would find some way to win this fight; but, just as they were about to collide the she wolf turned her head away from the carnage. If he was going to die her she didn't want to see it happen…especially not when she had no idea what Eric's little family would do to her when Drayvn was gone, but, all the sounds had stopped. There was no sound from the fight anymore. The white lupine looked back to the grounds only to see the two frozen in place for a moment, Drayvn's sword lodged into the animal's eye socket, which he sharply twisted before tearing it free allowing the otter to fall to the ground. Iréa wasn't sure what to think at the moment, she was amazed that Drayvn was even standing up, much the less still able to fight. Apparently not every part of the otter's body could become as dense as metal…

"Drayvn?" Iréa called as she approached the bleeding and beaten vulpine.

The black fox slowly turned his head her direction before collapsing, luckily the white wolf managed to catch him on her shoulder, "Come on…I've gotta find a safe place to treat these wounds." She grunted as she helped him stagger back toward the building.

Drayvn groaned a bit, "I-I'm fine……"

"No you aren't…" Iréa replied, "I could practically hear your ribs crack from where I was standing."

Drayvn spit out a large spot of blood, "No…no exceptions. We don't have the time to worry about my ribs, that can come later…" He said, "Right now, concentrate on the kid that's somewhere in that building. She's just a kit, her life's a lot more important that mine."

"What's with you caring about other all of a sudden?"

Drayvn took a labored breath as he tried to lighten his weight on the lupine's shoulder, "Emilia……always wanted a little girl…"

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a fucking idot?" Iréa asked.

Drayvn chuckled before grimacing in pain, "All the fuck'n time…" He smiled, "Was one of Emilia's favorite lines."

Iréa kept walking as she held the black fox from falling over, helping him into the halls of the eastern block of the facility; there were two more animals in between them and Eric, and Drayvn was already severely injured…

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**Author Notes: **_Okay that makes 21 apparently this fic will pan out to 22 maybe 23 chapters...but, it is coming to a close soon. Either way Drayvn has taken down another member of Black Star and is one step closer to Eric. Thanks for the support, R&R, and I'll see you next update..._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox  
_


	22. Chapter 21:Burning Hatred

**Author Notes:** _I hope you all enjoy this chapter, cuz there's only one more and it's gonna be big. Sorry if this chapter turns out a bit slow or short. Anyhow, thanks for the constant support, R&R if ya got the feel or time, and I'll catch ya as soon as 22 is finished. Laterz... ^_^_

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox

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_

**Chapter 21**

The lights seemed to sear his senses as the dark furred vulpine squinted into a light hanging over his head. As he lay there he made out a feint sound from beside him, but, he wasn't certain of what that sound might be. His senses were on fire, his head pounded feverishly, while every muscle in his body seemed to cry out in pain, seemingly begging their master not to move. Against the will of his own muscles however, he finally sat up, unfortunately a blaze of pain sent him sprawling back to whatever mattress was beneath him screaming in agony…

"Don't move!!" A voice shouted as a white furred paw pressed down on his chest lightly, "You've got at least six broken ribs…god only knows what other damages that freak did."

It only took a few moments for Drayvn's fit of pain to stop before he finally made another effort to sit up, this time wincing in pain seemingly growling at himself to keep from screaming, "I…won't…" He cut himself off as forced himself to his feet, struggling slightly to breath. He looked around through blurry vision; he was surrounded by beds that all looked like they'd not seen a body in years, each holding it's own footlocker, "Where are we?"

"The barracks…" Iréa replied.

"Where's the kid?" He asked looking around.

Iréa sighed, "Wasn't here…someone may have taken her."

In an instant a shot of pain rushed through Drayvn's skull; behind the vulpine's eyes he could see an open hallway that lead away from the barracks, it snaked through several corridores turning here and there, it rushed out into a small room where a very young looking dark red furred vixen stood, shivering in fear at the light gray paw that lay on her shoulder. The veiw slowly moved up to reveal the smiling face of a sickly gray furred wolf that Drayvn could instantly identify as Mashif…

"_Come and get her…"_ The animal's voice echoed through Drayvn's skull for a brief moment.

Drayvn came out of a slight daze shaking his head while Iréa stood by trying her hardest to figure out what was going on…

"I know where the kid is." He said stepping toward the door.

Iréa stopped Drayvn by taking him by the wrist and jamming an injection gun to his neck which let out an airy hiss, "This is for your own good Drayvn."

For a moment his vision blurred, he began to believe that the she wold had betrayed him, but, suddenly the pains that blanketed his body slowly began to fade away, it was then that he realized that it was a very powerful painkiller. He looked to the lupine while rubbing his neck…

"Necrophine?" He asked.

"Close…bennium-panadyetrene. Just as strong it'll just stay in your system longer."

Drayvn smirked a bit, "Good…cuz this isn't going to be easy. Mashif has the McCloud kid."

"Who?" Iréa asked helping the injured vulpine as they began to head down the halls of the place.

"Mashif "Terrance" Oojare." Drayvn replied, "One of the original Black Star subjects; telekinetic on a huge level…" He said, "Telekinesis happens to be a form of force manipulation…almost like altering kinetic energy."

"I thought telekinesis was just moving things with your mind." Iréa said.

Drayvn chuckled before wincing and holding his ribs, "Common mistake. Actually most people that form Telekinesis also have a weaker power of Psychokinesis, which is where most of the rumors come from. Telekinesis is worse than levitating and moving things with a lot of force. Think about being able to create kinetic energy with the power of your mind and being able to force it out as a weapon. They boy can make a sneeze blow a hole in a truck." He pointed out, "He can also alter the force around his own body, generating enough kinetic energy around his body to make him seem like he's teleporting around a room. I've even seen him bend light around his body making him completely invisible…and we've got a bigger problem."

"What's that?"

"He's absolutely psychotic." Drayvn replied, "Rose once told me that she looked up his profile and found that they fished his sorry ass out of an mental hospital for the criminally deranged. Apparently he wasn't the happiest kid in out there when he was growing up. He was admitted to an institution for the mentally insane when he went berserk in the middle of a classroom; he injured eighteen people and killed 2 teachers before he was brought down, apparently he'd snuck some sort of weapon into the school grounds. When they asked him why he did it, apparently he simply beat his head against the desk in the interrogation room yelling that they all needed to die…"

"Why would a military funded program want anything to do with that kind of a monster?" Iréa asked.

Drayvn thought to himself for a moment, "Good question. For now lets get to that kid before Mashif decides to do something bad."

"You're in no sort of condition for another fight." Iréa replied as they kept walking.

Drayvn sighed, "Even if I don't make it out of here alive…you can be certain that I'm not stopping until I see Eric take whatever final breath I leave him with."

Iréa simply listened to Drayvn before thinking about their situation, "Wait. How do you know where the little girl is?"

"Mashif wants me to come and take her from him…"

Iréa thought a bit more about the vulpine's injuries, "You know…that if you take too much more damage you won't be able to fight anymore."

"That's where you're wrong…" Dravyn mumbled, "If I take another beating like that last one…It'll kill me outright."

*******

The room they entered was rather large, there was not much besides a large desk at the far end of the room, there was a small bookshelf on either side of the small office as well as a few small chairs and a small sofa sitting against one wall and a large filing cabinet on leaning against the other. Drayvn pulled himself from Iréa's support wobbling a bit as he stepped away from her. A chilling chuckle floated on the air, pulling at the fur on the back of Iréa's neck. It was a cold, creel laugh, of someone who was enjoying watching the black furred vulpine try to cope with the horrendous pain that racked his body…

"This is just too good…" A light, weak sounding voice floated to their ears, "Remember Drayvn? All those years ago? You were so high and mighty, always flaunting your success in our faces."

"The girl has nothing to do with us…just let her go."

As Drayvn said this the light gray furred wolf faded into view, his sharp claws at the throat of a small vixen that he held in front of him…

"So what then?" Drayvn asked, "You've become so weak you actually have to hide behind little girls?"

In what seemed like an instant the gray lupine seemed to vanish from his place reappearing behind Drayvn driving a powerful knee toward the injured vulpine's spine, Drayvn, in his weakened condition only just managed to strafe the blow using his sheathed sword to catch himself before he managed to fall. However the lupine was hardly done; in another instance of the lupine's teleporting, a powerful shin was driven into Drayvn's chest, the impact causing blood to burst from the black furred animal's muzzle his entire world went dark for mere moments as his limp, pain stricken body slid across the floor. Drayvn found it impossible to fight to his feet as he could only clutch his arms about his ribs, while writhing in agony…

Mashif smirked at the ebon vulpine who still rolled about in pain, "Humph. That was more pathetic than I had first thought." The lupine took a step forward pushing the agonized vulpine a bit with his foot, "You know. At one point I almost feared you Drayvn. Then you let that little bitch of yours suck the will to fight right out of you. Now look at you." He said kneeling down beside Drayvn, "You're fucking pathetic. I've stepped on things that put up more of a fight then you. Whatever happened to that bloodthirsty animal that wanted to rip out my heart? Maybe he just needs a bit of motivation now, since you've decided to lock him away. Would it help if I told you Emilia didn't beg for her own life?" He asked, "Mmmm…I still remember the look on her face that night; the taste of her blood, her fear…" The lupine inhaled slowly, "Just between the two of us though." He said lowing his muzzle to the pain filled vulpine's ear, "I took pleasure in stomping that little bastard child of yours out of existence."

It seemed as thought the words themselves caused Drayvn to stop screaming as he rolled onto his paws and knees. Tears began burning as the corners of his eyes, trailing down his face and falling from the tip of his muzzle. Every muscle in his body burned from a feeling that seemed to well up from his gut, spreading like fire in his veins. Suddenly images of his familiar flashed through his head; Drayvn could see his child so clearly in the forefront of his mind, his dreams of one day becoming a father torn away from him. As he watched the tears fall into the puddle of blood still falling from his mouth, a look of pure rage twisted the black fox's face into a sight not of this world…

Mashif laughed maniacally, "What's the matter Drayvn?" He taunted the heartbroken animal, "Do you think the little shit had any feelings yet? Maybe fear. Do you think you kid was afraid for it's life?"

Mashif's body seemed to freeze in fear as Drayvn's head slowly turned toward the lupine; Mashif found himself staring as Drayvn's eyes shifted from it's normal color to a burning read as if the blood of the fallen had washed over his vision. Mashif's body seemed to refuse to allow him to move, completely frozen in fear of the thing that he'd woken up. The strike that came was something that the animal never managed to see, as a blazing fist struck him in the center of the chest. The impact sent the sickly gray wolf into the air several feet hurling him across the room, slamming him into the wall with a sickening impact that forced blood pooling blood in his mouth to spill over his lip. Mashif stared on in amazement, Drayvn's punch, had felt like a small explosion contained completely within his fist, using the concussive force of it to add to his already powerful strike. The lupine shook his head as he stood up, looking to the enraged animal before him. Drayvn's eyes still poured tears, but, at the same time the same look of absolute hatred never left his face. Iréa could hardly believe what she was seeing…

"How can he even stand up?" She asked herself.

Mashif finally smiled, "Now…this is more like it." He chuckled, "I can't stop shaking. I have to say, I like the feeling of fear. It makes you feel……alive."

Drayvn's face still retained it's ferocity, "You're about to feel death." His voice caused shivers to trail up Iréa's spine. It didn't sound like Drayvn at all.

There were no more words however as Drayvn's arms lit ablaze, the flames seeming to burn a lighter blue than usual. The instant ignition of his power began to make Iréa instantly break into a sweat, he was producing so much heat that it was beginning to melt the sole off of his boots, causing the rubber soles to liquefy beneath his feet. A bright blue ball of flames burst from Drayvn's fist as though he was throwing some sort of phantom punch. Mashif seemed to vanish from the spot with mere seconds to space as the small pillar of flame slammed into the desk he stood by instantly causing the wooden structure to explode, sending shards of flaming wood hurling through the air at dangerous speeds. As Iréa watched on the small child that they had come to protect rushed for the door but a hail of debris shot from the explosion toward the child, and in a speed that even surprised her the white wolf dove into the child closing the vixen tightly into her arms as she hit the floor rolling to safety. She looked up just in time to see Drayvn dodge what must have been some sort of attack, as shortly after he moved something slammed into the filing cabinet on the far end of the room, mangling the metal horribly as the structure formed a large dent in the wall behind it. Her eyes moved to the wolf across from Drayvn who made the motion of throwing something at the black fox; this time Drayvn replied to the motion with a short burst of flames that shot from his fist. The flames met with whatever invisible force Mashif was using, causing the flames to burst apparently dissipating whatever attack the wolf had used. Suddenly Drayvn's right arm began to shake violently as the already intense flames began to roar out of control. Drayvn suddenly shot his fist forward. What erupted from the black furred animal's fist was a stream of intense flames which slammed into the wall just as Mashif seemed to be engulfed. The stream of flames died down after a few moments, leaving no more than a smoldering hole in the wall which dripped bits of molten metal to the floor…

"Pyrobolt?" Mashif said from a safe place where the remains of the desk lay, "I used to think naming an attack was the stupidest idea in the world…but, after seeing it for myself…"

The animal's words were however cut off by a short blast of flames that slammed into his right shoulder. The sleeve as well as half the chest of the white shirt he was wearing instantly flittered away as nothing more than ashes., the smell of scorched fur filled the room and Mashif let out a howl of pain as he clutched at his severely burned shoulder. The skin beneath his hand instantly rose to blister and burst causing trails of blood to flow down his arm…

"I think I may have slightly underestimated you…"

Drayvn's flames hissed out leaving only small traces of smoke rising from his arms, "Shut up." He growled, "You don't deserve to talk, you don't deserve to breath. The only thing you deserve is as much pain and torment as I can possibly put you in." The flames suddenly burst back to life, "And I intend to explore every possible means of doing it."

Mashif found it impossible to move his right arm from the pain that shot through him every time he moved his arm. The skin had practically washed away leaving nothing but a mess of gore and melted flesh on his shoulder. His breathing was becoming erratic, a mixture of shock from the hideous burns on his shoulder, and the incredibly hot air that Drayvn was putting off which made it difficult to breath. The lupine instantly vanished appearing at what seemed like several different places at once; Drayvn ducked under one of the invisible attacks that shot at him, until another hit collided with his chest. With a scream of pain the black fox spun through the air slamming violently into the far wall of the room. The lupine instantly warped in front of the downed animal readying an attack only to find himself locked in a powerful grip that held his arm, while another strong paw locked around his throat. The injured animal had played opossum to catch the cocky lupine off his guard. Though Drayvn's arms were no longer emitting their flames Mashif still struggled against a burning heat in his grip, as Drayvn kept his grip guiding the animal across the room pinning him to a wall…

"So…Mashif…" He said, "What do you think would happen if I brought your blood to a boil? Why don't we find out?"

Drayvn's hate filled eyes locked with Mashif's, who could see the steam of Drayvn's instantly evaporating tear rising from his eyes giving the black fox the appearance of some sort of demon. Mashif's lip began to twitch as the feeling of a terrible pain that began to scale up the arm caught in Drayvn's grip. It felt as through ever ounce of his flesh was spontaneously going to burst into flame. His heavily erratic breathing began to slowly escalate from small, but loud gasps for air, until they worked up into a constant scream of absolute agony. His screams began to work up even louder as steam began to escape from his eyes followed by steaming trails of crimson tears that trailed down his face. What appeared to be steaming blood began to ooze from his nostrils, and flowed from his ears down the sides of his head. Veins and arteries all about his body began to burst soon painting the animal a deep crimson. Iréa looked to the scene for a moment only to slap her paw over her muzzle turning and pulling the young vixen's face into her chest to protect the child's senses from the horrid sight of what Drayvn was doing…

*******

A sudden, ear shattering scream rushed through the halls of the building, carrying to the ears of a vulpine couple, still imprisoned by the fox that sat across from them watching small screens…

"Can't say I envy that poor bastard." Fox said as a chill caused him to shudder.

Eric sat as his small seat watching the events of Drayvn's fight unfold on a small monitor, "Atta' boy Rubedo." He chuckled, "Just a little further until we can finally be what we were intended to be. I'd best prepare myself, at this point he'll kill Raven too."

Krystal watched on as the animal headed toward the door, "You know what I smell right now?" She asked.

Eric stopped to hear her out…

"Fear…" She finished.

Eric chuckled, "Were I you…I'd concentrate on the severity of my own situation rather than worry about others."

Krystal took a moment to sit at Fox's side, "Krystal. What is this _Opus _that psycho keeps talking about? Does it have something to do with your friend?"

Krystal sighed, "It started a long time ago. An ancient Cerinian genius developed a theory that he called the _Opus Alchymicu_m: he claimed that if one were to fully complete the Opus, they would come to a great understanding of life, and all the things in the universe itself. Like letting go of a floodgate of potential knowledge and power that could be, as far as we know, unlimited." She said, "He died trying to complete the Opus many, many years ago, before any of us were even born. As to what it really does though, nobody knows. Could kill you. Could make you immortal. Or it could simply do something completely foreign."

"So what happens if this fruitcake actually pulls this off?"

Krystal sighed, "Nothing good…that's for sure." Krystal thought for a moment, "So…" She said changing the subject, "Who's Lilly? You've been thinking about her nonstop for hours."

The chestnut furred vulpine sighed, "She's……my daughter."

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**Ps:** Reffering to Drayvn's fight earlier...Wood literally explodes at a bit over 800 degrees Ferinheight.


	23. Chapter 22:Vengance

**Author Notes: **_Sorry people. For some reaosn I was certain I'd posted this chapter and in the end I'm just a dumbshit. Well regardless of my dumbassness, here's the final chapter of Footsteps in the Darkness. Hope you enjoyed it. I know I had fun writing it. Thanks for the support._

_The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox_

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**Chapter 22**

Krystal thought for a moment, she really didn't expect anyone like Fox to go his entire life without finding someone else. As she sat there the blue vixen sighed…

"So…you're married then?" She asked.

Fox chuckled, "It's not like that Krys." He said, "After you I lost interest in any kind of relationship. I was on this little job on a small moon in Dan'jas called Kovix. Place wasn't exactly the nicest scene in the galaxy either. I was tailing our target when I ducked into an alley to keep from being spotted. That was when this gorgeous little vixen popped her head out of a nearby trash can. Her clothes were filthy and cut up, and her fur was a mess. She was chewing on some rotten food or other that she'd found in that can. I couldn't just leave the kid there in the state she was in. So I took her with me…unfortunately having her on the Great Fox didn't sit too well with Falco. In the three days that it took for us to get home, I spent a lot of time with the kit; she grew on me. I gave up Star Fox, started working as a flight instructor at the Flight Academy and adopted her after finding out that her parents were both dead. I don't know how to explain it but, every time I see her smile, it gets a little easier to deal with our break-up."

Krystal chuckled, "You must love her like she's your own."

"No……she is my own." Fox said, "She may not be my flesh and blood, but, she is my daughter, and I'd do anything for her."

Krystal thought about her past for a moment before lowering her head, "Fox…I'm…I'm sorry. About, what I said that day." She said, "I don't hate you. I don't think I ever really could."

Fox draped an arm over the vixen's shoulders, "I know…I'm sorry too. I think we both made our fair share of mistakes in the past."

"Is it too late for me to come back to Corneria? With you?" The vixen asked.

Fox smiled, he had always longed to hear Krystal say something like that, "It's never too late for you to come home." He replied pulling her a bit closer to her, "I really missed you."

"I missed you too Fox."

*******

Iréa looked to the mess on the floor that was the only remains of the charred, gore covered lupine that had fought Drayvn earlier. Drayvn seemed to revert to his normal self before stumbling toward the wall to his left, just barely catching himself before his legs gave out. His breathing was incredibly erratic at this point, the extra damage to his ribs during the fight had only added to the pain that he felt moving through the area, blood flowed from a large cut across his forehead that he'd not even noticed before, and as Iréa looked on the young vixen in her arms rushed out toward the black furred vulpine..

"Hey mister…" She said sweetly while pulling on his pant leg, "Are you okay?"

"I'm…." He winced in pain, "I'll be fine kid…you okay?"

The young vixen smiled nodding her head…

"That's good…" He said, "I guess this can be the "one" that I owe McCloud. You're a brave kid you know that?"

The little vixen smiled as the black fox's paw rubbed her head, "How are your ribs?" Iréa asked.

Drayvn wince in pain again, "Horrible. Can't barely……breath. It hurts to talk. I think…he might have ruptured something."

Iréa took a moment to look the vulpine over, "You may be right."

"Oh well…I can't stop now." Drayvn pointed out, "I'm too close to stop now. Take the kid and lets go. I've got one last old friend I'm sure is out here somewhere waiting for me."

The three animals made their way back through the halls, luckily as Drayvn walked he seemed to regain a bit of his composure, a clear sign that there was most likely nothing actually ruptured inside of him. It was as they walked that Iréa questioned herself again; she wondered how it was he could keep going like this, he was still bleeding, possibly internally, and yet all he seemed to concentrate on was the idea of his brother being so close to him. She simply followed behind him with the young McCloud kit beside her. It took some time as they headed down the halls of the facility, after a few minutes the black vulpine staggered falling against a nearby wall. Iréa moved to help him but, Drayvn simply, lightly pushed her away…

"Don't bother with me…just watch the kid." He said swallowing hard, "…I just need a minute to catch my breath."

"What you need is a damn hospital."

Drayvn breathed out heavily, "Just take care of the kid…"

It only took a minute or so before the vulpine pulled himself back to his feet and continued down the halls. His steps seemed to gain a bit of power while he walked, this made Iréa wonder if he weren't full of himself of not. However, this didn't seem to matter as they all headed down the halls, the little one seemed to have been back and forth being led to the holding cell where they were keeping Fox, and gave directions as best her little mind would allow. Their path led them through several empty rooms, many of which were all full of nuclear materials as well as recently used gear. It was as they stumbled from room to room that the three entered a massive, dark room, a dank smell that insulted their senses nearly made Iréa vomit. It was the familiar smell of decayed flesh and rotting blood. As they walked into the room lights seemed to light the entirety of the room up; at the center of the room the place dipped down into what appeared to be a large trench, whether it was for spills, or an oil pit, they didn't know, but, it was filled nearly full with the bodies of what appeared to be workers of some kind…

"They all worked here you know?" A voice echoed through the room, "They were making these weapons again. They all needed to die, for the good of everyone in Lylat."

Drayvn seemed to wince as he stood at full attention, "Hello Raven."

Suddenly a black feathered figure seemed to step out of the shadows as if he materialized from nothingness, "Hello, D. It's good to see you're…well for the most part."

Drayvn looked to the bodies laying in the mass grave…

"They were working for an unknown organization calling itself Omni…I tried to find out what I could but…" The avian sighed, "…it proved fruitless, whoever this Omni Corporation is it's covering itself nicely. We aren't evil Drayvn…"

"Then why?" The vulpine asked, "You were the only one here that I actually trusted. Emilia trusted you, you were like a brother to her."

Raven stared at Drayvn, "I never lifted a finger at her!"

"YOU STOOD BY AND WATCHED IT HAPPEN!!" Drayvn yelled at the top of his lungs, "As far as I'm concerned you loaded every bullet yourself."

Raven's eyes fell to the floor, "I know right now, you must hate me more than anything…but, trust me when I tell you, if I could have stopped it I would have."

"You're wrong…" Drayvn said turning his head a bit so as not to look directly at the raven in front of him, "…you could have at least tried. If she ever meant anything to you, you would have done something. WHY!?"

Raven finally looked to the vulpine, "I WAS A COWARD!!!" He shouted, "Does it make you happy to hear that I feared for my own life more than hers?" He asked, "Do you have any idea what it's like? Never getting a moment's worth of sleep, because you knew you were responsible for the death of one of the only people that you ever cared about?"

Drayvn tried not to let the tears that rolled down his cheek show as he looked Raven in the eyes, "Yes……I do. And the only way to make that pain go away, is to kill the only family I have. Nobody that's died here has been anywhere near as guilty as Eric, but they've all deserved to die." Drayvn said pulling his sword pointing it at the avian, "……and you're no different than them."

"Look at yourself D." Raven said, "You're barely standing up. You're beaten, bruised, bleeding, and god only knows what damages have been done to you."

"I still have everything I need…" Drayvn replied, "…everything that it'll take to show you and Eric just how much that mistake cost the both of you. I won't rest until every one of you pays for ruining my life…and taking her away from me."

Raven lowered his head, "I've been paying for my mistakes for a lot longer than you'd care to wager…but, I can't die in a place like this. Not until I do what it is I set out to do…my repentance won't be complete until I stop weapons like the ones made her from ever being used again." He said, "But, if I have to kill you D. I'm afraid that's just something I'll have to find a way of living with."

Before Drayvn could realize what had happened something took him by the ankle, slinging him about the air with a powerful whipping motion. The flying vulpine's body slammed into the mass of corpses before rolling off onto the metal floor and slamming violently into the nearby wall. Drayvn growled in pain as a shot of pain coursed through his body…

"You have no idea how much it pains me to do this D." Raven said, "I never wanted to hurt you, or Emilia….but, I refuse to go. Not until I can say I've made amends for what I've done, or rather what I should have done."

Drayvn staggered to his feet, "Then you're……gonna have to kill me."

"This is not much choice D. It's yours."

Drayvn stood up readying his weapon, "Everyone has to pay…for what they did."

"I wish you could see what it is I'm trying to do…"

Drayvn glared at the black avian, "I can see what you're trying to do just fine, but, no matter what you do, or how many of these weapons you destroy…it'll never make you feel any better for what you and the others did."

It seemed to be an instant in which Drayvn shot across the short distance between them. A short spray of blood shot from the avian's right arm, unfortunately as he completed his stride Drayvn's knees gave causing him to fall to the ground rolling across the metal floor before coming to a stop. The poor animal grimaced he barely had the strength to fight for himself, he'd managed to attack the avian but, wasn't even able to follow through. Raven sighed as he looked over the fallen vulpine; Ire was hardly able to believe what she was seeing when it seemed as though the avian's shadow grasped Drayvn by the throat hoisting him into the air as it seemed to develop into a more solid form of itself. She'd never even thought of the idea of a shadow physically lifting someone off the ground. Drayvn choked at the things grip. However the vulpine's body instantly burst into flames causing the shadow being to drop him. Raven had been caught off guard, not expecting the vulpine to get a flame going in his current condition. Raven smiled a bit, he knew better than to underestimate what he was capable of. The avian's shadow however grasped Drayvn again however, this time hurling him across the room, where a similar shadow seemed to hammer him into the ground with a powerful force that caused a spat of blood to fly from his mouth…

"This is your doing D." He said, "I never wanted to hurt you…you know that."

Drayvn pulled himself to his paws and knees gasping from breath, "You…lie. You've never…done anything that wasn't for yourself…you're not better……than Eric."

Raven sighed, "I guess this means your mind is made up isn't it?"

Drayvn only looked up and glared at the avian before finding his way slowly to his feet. Raven seemed to stand right where he was as the shadow he cast seemed to stalk toward Drayvn…

"Do you believe that light is the darkness's greatest enemy?" Raven squinted at the question, "Because I know otherwise." The vulpine said raising his paw over his head, "because without light shadow's can't exist can they?"

Raven gasped as a pulse of flames sprouted from Drayvn's black furred palm, splitting into several small flying balls of fire. The small balls of flames seemed to seek out the room's sources of light. Raven seemed to back away slightly as the small lights around the room seemed to burst simultaneously leaving the entire room in utter darkness. The only thing visible to the Raven now was a pair of bright eyes that seemed to emanate flames as he walked forward…

"What's the matter Raven?" Drayvn asked, "Can't you see in the dark? That's right, that's why you've been afraid of the dark your entire life. Isn't it? Being a fox I've never really had that problem myself."

Raven gasped as the razor sharp blade of Drayvn's sword shot from his chest, "Good bye Raven. If it helps…I never hated you." He said, "But you got in my way. I know you'd never let me get anywhere near Eric without giving your life. I'm just sorry I'm the one that had to take it."

Raven pulled the vulpine close to him for a moment, gasping for breath from the wound, "D…Listen." He said, "Eric…he's not out in the open……he's smarter than you give him credit for." The avian said, "Down the main hall you came through…you'll….find a room…a study. Under the front of the large desk in the middle of the room….there's a switch…" Raven took a moment, "…it will lead you to an old facility under this one…I think it used to be some sort of research lab…" He said, "this is……what Karma simply has in store for people like us…" Raven winced in pain, "…for what it's worth D. I'm sorry…I guess, I'll see you in hell."

The raven gasped for air one last time before Drayvn could feel his breathing stop, and the limp body of the animal slid from his sword falling to the pile of bodies that lay in the middle of the room. Drayvn grimaced in pain as he slid his weapon back into it's scabbard, and left the room finding Iréa and the young McCloud kit in the hall. At some point Drayvn's left eye had taken some damage and was swollen shut; he stopped for a moment to look to the two vixen that stood outside the room before staggering down the halls once again…

"Come on…" He said, "…Eric's this way."

The three left their area into a small hall, which separated off from the one they were in. It hooked off to the left of their current position, and only led to a single room; it was a room just like the one that Raven had described, and at it's far end was a large black desk that seemed to be the focal point of the entire room. Though at this point it even pained him to walk, Drayvn made his way over to the desk and after finding his way to the front of it leaned on the desk to rest for a moment. His paws smeared a streak of blood across the shiny surface of the polished desk. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths and the table along with the room blurred in and out of focus. The black furred vulpine however shook his head blinking hard before reaching to the underside of the desk feeling around until his paw hit something. There was a resounding sound, like grinding gears before the base of the area that Drayvn stood on shifted; a large, circular portion of the floor slowly rose from the ground into a small pillar in the middle of the room, housing a spiral staircase leading down into the bowels of some hidden sanctum of some sort. Dravyn seemed to limp toward the stairwell before he seemed to loose his footing, however Iréa quickly caught him by the arm helping him back to his feet. She took a moment to study his eyes which fluttered about a bit…

"This isn't good…" She said, "…you've lost too much blood. We've gotta back out of this."

Drayvn pushed her away and headed into the stairway, "I told you…I'm not leaving. This ends here…I've gone too far to just walk away."

"You're a fu…." Iréa cut herself off looking at the young vixen beside her, "…you're an idiot…you know that?"

"Do whatever you want." The dark furred vulpine replied, "I said I could use your help…and you have. Thank you. I can handle it from here. Just take the kid somewhere safe and I'll go get Kursed and McCloud out of here. And thank Nex for me…"

Drayvn slowly made his way down the stairs, leaving the two vixen behind. Iréa stood there wondering why he'd go on by himself like this, it wasn't until he was already gone that she realized what was happening. He didn't intend to come back alive…he never did; it was clear to her now that Drayvn intended to kill Eric and simply let himself die. Iréa wasn't sure why but, her instincts pulled her along after so long down the stairs. It was as Iréa and the young vixen with her walked along the winding stairs, that Fox's adopted daughter pulled on Iréa's tail and pointed to a spot on the wall. Iréa looked only to see a smeared trail of blood that started in a paw print and trailed a long way down the stairwell…

"Wow…he's bleeding bad." She said to the little one reaching down and picking her up.

Drayvn seemed to have trouble walking down the hall as he stumbled down the last set of stairs, however a familiar voice caught his attention…

"Drayvn?"

Drayvn turned to see a blue furred vixen along with the chestnut furred fox he'd been hired to find both behind a grate of cell bars…

"Kursed? You two okay?"

The blue vixen looked worriedly at the black vulpine, "Yes, we're fine. But look at you…you look like you're half dead."

"I'll be fine…" Drayvn replied, "Where's Eric?"

Suddenly Drayvn's face curled into an angered sneer, "Where indeed Rubedo?"

Drayvn slowly turned to look at the animal across from him and growled, "Eric…" He said from the corner of his mouth.

"Rubedo…You've seen better days." The vulpine smiled, "I expected nothing less of you really. I knew you'd manage to take them all…even Drake, though he did seem to give you a bit of trouble didn't he? I can honestly say that I felt a bit sorry for Mashif…I never would have thought of the kind of pain you put him through after finding out he was the one that killed your child." Eric chuckled, "The shed tears of a loving father…such a sad thing that ours bore none on his deathbed." He said holding up a familiar looking sword very similar to Drayvn's.

"Eric…that's…"

Eric grinned, "Yes…father's sword. I know he'd given us both our own, but, I always felt that this weapon was a bit…special." He said with a sick smile, "He didn't like the idea of me taking it so well…he was the first that had to go…unfortunately mother had to be noble and try defending him. I never meant for her to go…she did it to herself…"

Drayvn's eyes watered over as a more vicious glare crossed his face, "You…killed…"

"Yes…" Eric replied, "Like everyone else…they all got in my way. Anyone that gets in my way has to be taken care of."

"You're…Insane." Drayvn uttered.

Eric sighed rolling his eyes, "Yes, yes. We've been down this road before." He said, "If I'm not mistaken, didn't you come here to kill me?"

Drayvn lifted his sword as best he could, as Eric dawned a sinister grin, "Can you even manage to lift that weapon Rubedo? I hardly think so, maybe fighting yourself isn't the best idea at the moment." He said shifting into the shape of a lovely red furred vixen, "Would you feel at ease fighting mother?" He asked shifting into an older black vulpine male, "Or perhaps father…" He added shifting again into the vision that still haunted Drayvn's dreams, "Or maybe your dearest Emilia…"

Drayvn growled, "No more tricks coward. Fight me yourself, or have you spent so much time hiding that you don't even remember what you looked like?"

Eric sneered at his brother, "Fine…"

The animal's fur seemed to change very little from Emilia's form, fading off into a dull gray as he long hair seemed to fade off into a deep dark charcoal black, his eyes changed very little from the blue orbs that Drayvn had fallen in love with so long ago, taking a lighter shade of blue as Emilia's eyes faded into ones much less familiar. His body was never as muscular as he could have been, he'd never really cared for exercise and training as much as Drayvn had…

"So…" Eric asked, "Still see me as some sort of coward?"

Drayvn shook off the dizziness from his blood loss, "Yes…and a freak to boot. You don't look anything like the Eric I remember. You don't remember yourself at all."

Eric scoffed, "What do I care? What need to I have for an identity? After all of this is over, I'll have everything I'll ever need."

Drayvn's knee buckled a bit as he stood there, his brother took the instant opening to rush in swiping his weapon at the black vulpine's face, Drayvn barely found the opening to duck. The attacks however kept coming, each of which was dodged or blocked by less than a hair's width. As the fight skipped about the room, Krystal and Fox looked on…

"Fox…" The blue vixen said, "…We've got to get out of this cell."

Fox looked to the vulpine struggling to survive against his psychotic brother, "He's strong Krystal, even as badly beaten as he is right now." Fox replied, "right now there's nothing either of us can do…but, watch."

Drayvn dodged another attack only to feel the sting of the tip of Eric's blade ripping a slash across his chest. Several other slashes met their marks as well, one tearing into the vulpine's right arm, another across his back, while the third came within centimeters of severing a major artery in the animal's neck, before a powerful kick send Drayvn sliding across the floor…

Eric sighed, "You're pathetic Rubedo…perhaps I was wrong all along and you aren't the key."

The black furred vulpine managed to get to one knee using his sword to hold himself up, "Who's really the pathetic one Eric?" He asked, "Me…or the one who has to fight me while I'm already half dead? If anyone here's pathetic……it's you." He said painfully climbing to his feet, "You've always been a coward…and you always will be…you can attack nothing but, an weakened person, a pregnant female, or an unborn child…because you're too much of a coward to fight anyone on your own terms."

Eric slowly strode over to Drayvn using his foot to push the beaten animal onto his back, "You know exactly who you sound like right now Rubedo?" He asked placing a foot on Drayvn's slashed arm, "Father…" He pointed out pressing his heel into the wound causing Drayvn to scream in pain, "…I hated that animal from the day I became old enough to know what hatred was. Lavishing his youngest son, the miracle child that should never have even been born with every ounce of love he had. It was why I was certain you were the key to the Opus, one who's seen the other side; an animal who's seen death." He said, "Father spent a vast majority of his life searching for the answers that only the Opus can give…and he was the one that discovered the missing pieces to the puzzle."

There was a moment in which Eric looked to the two vulpine left in their cell, "At first I have thought of using these two, perhaps however I should take up that offer from that fellow……Caruso. He offered quite a bit for the Cerinian. I'm sure I could find someone willing to pay for the chance to kill McCloud as well."

Eric then turned his attention to his fallen brother only to see the dark furred vulpine open his palm causing a blinding blast of flames to burst from his palm, the small charge of flames scorched the side of Eric's face causing him to fall away from. Drayvn took this opportunity to slowly find his way to his feet, only to find that Eric was chuckling to himself as he held the burned side of his face, while looking to a slash wound across his chest, "Ah. Still willing to fight when there's nothing left to fight for, eh Rubedo?"

Drayvn shook his head in an attempt to make his blurred vision clear up, "As long as you're alive I'll always have a reason to fight Eric." He said spitting up a small spot of blood.

"Please, Rubedo. You are in scarce enough condition as it is…" Eric replied, "…you'll be dead before long."

Drayvn was still panting heavily, "You…actually think I came here……with any intention of leaving alive?" He smiled, "I knew…I was dead, the minute I stepped into this place…but, I'm not going without you coming with me."

Eric smiled as Drayvn somehow managed to lift his weapon. There was a moment in which the two simple stared at each other; there wasn't a word between them, only the sound of the breathing of the animals in the room. Drayvn could hardly see; there was blood in his eyes, he was groggy from the blood loss, and he was certain that at some point he'd suffered a concussion from one of his previous encounters. It seemed like an eternity that the two stood there, Krystal expected that Drayvn would fall over any moment; time slowed to a crawl as Eric started forward enticing Drayvn to shoot from his position. This was the last moment, what everything that he'd ever said, or done had finally boiled down to; his life had only meant reaching this point ever since he'd watched her die. Once all was said and done, he'd finally be with her again, with her and his son, and he'd go with the satisfaction of knowing that all the people that had caused his pain, and misery had all reaped what they had sewn, paid for their crimes, and burned for their sins. There was a thunderous clash of steel and sparks as the two passed by one another a long stream of blood splashing against the screens next to the animals. Drayvn ended up just near the cell, frozen for a moment before falling to one knee, dropping his weapon and spitting up a large spot of blood. Krystal couldn't bring herself to say anything she could only look away as the black furred vulpine fell to catching himself on his paws just before hitting the ground. Fox tapped Krystal on the shoulder causing her to turn around in time to see Eric double over in pain as a large gash across his chest began to leak blood down his body. The vulpine made a chocked sound as if the slash had met a lung before falling to his knees, where he clawed at his throat for air. The caged animals watched on as Drayvn slowly crawled to the suffering animal's side before propping himself up on his knees. He quickly took a grip around Eric's upper and lower jaw…

"Where are you now?" He asked pulling until Eric's mouth cracked open into a perfect ninety degree angle, "If not within death's cold embrace."

His labored breathing only grew more erratic as he released his fallen brother's jaws; he fell back sitting on his calves. A small spat of blood pooled from his mouth; his head turned slowly toward Krystal, there was a moment in which she could only see tears in his eyes, before a wide smile spread across his face moments before his body fell to the floor. The blue vixen couldn't stand seeing what she was seeing, she knew he'd intended to die here, but, how could he go with a smile on his face? She wanted to check, just to make certain he wasn't alive before something sounded off, a launch warning, Eric had set some of the base's warheads to be launched. However, Irea quickly rushed into the room with Fox's adopted daughter following right behind her. The white furred she wolf quickly found the means of which to open the cell door, allowing the young vixen beside her to rush into Fox's arms. Krystal rushed to Drayvn only to realize that he had no pulse…

Fox quickly rushed to the control terminal that Eric had worked at before returning to Krystal's side, "Krys…we gotta get outta here now…I couldn't stop the launch I had to set this place to blow."

Though it pained her to do it, Krystal found her way to her feet with Fox's help, and soon the small group of animals found themselves far enough away from the base to be out of harm's way thanks to a small wheeled vehicle that was left in the facility's storage yard where Drayvn had finished off Maxx. There Krystal found herself in tears, she'd come to think of Drayvn as a close friend, the only comfort that she could find was the large fox who held her in an attempt to comfort her loss. She was certain that Drayvn would have been happy to see her in a position where she could once again be happy. Krystal had no idea now long she'd been standing there watching the burning facility sink to the ground before they all decided to leave. Everything was the way Drayvn had meant for it to be; Black Star was gone, everyone that had something to do with Emilia's death was dead, and she was certain that somewhere he was reunited with his family…

**Three Months Later……**

**Corneria City……**

**McCloud Residence……**

A small house in the country was the place that Krystal came to soon call home; she was happy to finally be with Fox again, who had cleared things up with Slippy and Falco as well as the government itself. His old team was quick to forgive and forget, even Falco who had since taken up the Star Fox captain seat; teaming up with Katt Monroe and a small team of others. As the days became months, Krystal kept her eyes and ears on the news hoping for some word about the destroyed base or something about Black Star but, nothing ever came. More and more days sped by, and the blue furred vixen found herself becoming incredibly attached to the young vixen named Lilly that Fox had adopted so long ago. Her life once again had meaning; she felt loved, and of all her time as Kursed she realized that love was the one thing that she was actually missing. It was a warm morning when the little vixen made her way to Krystal, who had been sitting down to breakfast with Fox. She tapped Krystal gently holding up a package that seemed larger than the young vulpine, which Krystal took with a smile before kissing Lilly's forehead…

"Thank you Lilly." Krystal said pushing away her drink and laying the box in front of her.

Fox stepped up behind her laying his paws on her shoulders, "Who's it from?"

"I…I dunno…" Krystal replied, "Lilly where did you get this?"

The young vixen pointed to the front of the small house, "It was on the steps."

The blue vixen opened the long box only to find it's contents wrapped in a thin paper, and on top lay a black chess king, tied to it's base was a small note labeled "Check Mate: I guess you finally won". She smiled with a light chuckled as a tear rolled from her eye. She slowly pulled the packing paper away to see a familiar looking old sword, and a book titled 'No More Sorrow' along with a pair of old rushed shackles. Stricken, Krystal quickly rushed out to the opened window in the living room. Far off on the hill in the distance, a tall figure stood, a long coat waving in the blowing wind…

Before she could realize it, the figure was gone; whether it was an apparition of a lost friend, or Drayvn's own way of telling her that he was alright, she didn't know, but, somewhere deep down she was certain he was alive and well somewhere…

"I think he's just fine." The blue vixen said looking to Fox.

"What makes you say that?" He asked, "That explosion was pretty huge. I don't see anyone walking away from something like that."

Krystal chuckled, "I think I heard it best when someone told me;_ I make it my business to know these things_."

**-In the end there is No More Sorrow. Times change, people change, and in the end nothing is the same. We are who we are in the end, we cannot be anything else. Live life for what it is, and love yourself for who you are.-**

_Song dedicated to this fic…_

_Cry for you – Ashe_


End file.
